THE PONY'S HOME MYSTERY
by GosieKin
Summary: A day before Halloween night, three kids from Pony's Home don't show up for breakfast. Is it just a Halloween prank?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I'd like to thank alfredofroylan2 from DevianArt for creating a fanart that inspired me to write this story and also Lorena, Charmichan and Minda for their ideas. It is thanks to them that the core of the events of the first chapter was created.**

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**THE PONY'S HOME MYSTERY**

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**CHAPTER 1**

Pony's Home had always been a wonderful place. With lots of space around, surrounding hills and forest and a river nearby, it was the perfect place for children to grow and play. And the very homely atmosphere of this place helped almost every child that was sent there to overcome their losses and their childhood tragedies. It was their home, their cosy and safe home.

And for decades, the worst that had happened to anyone was just minor cuts and bruises, the result of the kids' crazy games.

Until that day…

It was at breakfast when Sister Maria discovered that some of the kids were missing from the table. No one had noticed that earlier; the washroom had been crowded with multiple kids running about all over the place and no one even thought about checking who exactly was there.

As everyone began eating, she went to the bedrooms to see if they were perhaps still asleep. But all the bedrooms came up empty, all the beds had been done… except for three.

At first, Sister Maria was only upset that the children had failed to fulfil their duties and be on time for breakfast. The missing three, Lorena, Jack and Diana were just how Candy had been, years back. They were known for playing practical jokes and fooling everyone whenever they could get the chance to, so this time, she was sure that it was also another prank that they wanted to pull on everyone. And the longer she searched for the missing trio, the angrier she was becoming. She checked every possible room, every class and then every little corner in the house, finding nothing in the end. Minutes had passed by and the pranksters were nowhere to be found. And they weren't replying when she called out their names.

Oh, she was going to punish them accordingly when they were finally found!

Deciding that the kids must have hidden somewhere outside, she quickly put on her long warm coat. Outside was cold. Very cold. It had snowed last night, not much, for winter hadn't properly arrived yet but it was enough to cover the ground with an even, white blanket. The snow was about four inches deep and looking back at her own, clear footprints, Sister Maria knew that all she had to do was to find the ones that belonged to the children and simply follow them to the place where they had lay hidden. And since her footprints were the only ones in the front yard, she realized that the kids must have left the house another way.

Briskly, she circled the entire house, heading straight for the children's bedroom. Kids usually tried to sneak out through the window…

But underneath the window, she found no expected footprints. And she made sure that no one had used the window as an escape route when she checked the window itself; it was firmly closed and locked from the inside. The snow on the window seal was also undisturbed – if anyone had left through here, there would have been traces of such actions.

Sister Maria circled the entire house once more, wanting to check that perhaps the kids might have left through another window. But to her growing puzzlement, the snow around the house had been untouched, even by animals. The only set of footprints she found were those that led to the kitchen door and back and they were far bigger than what the children would have left. These belonged to an adult, and it could only have been Tom when he came earlier to bring them milk from his farm, as he does every morning.

Yet, it was the only trace and she followed it, thinking that the kids perhaps walked out by stepping into Tom's much bigger footprints to hide their own.

The trail led her towards the orphanage's little barn. It stopped before the massive door, mixing with other, larger footprints on the snow. The snow here was compacted and covered with dry straws here and there. She remembered that here was where Tom had been unloading the hay he had brought for them.

Inside, except for the single horse and a few chickens, there was no one. No one replied to her calls. She even went as far as to climb the ladder and check the tiny attic space where they kept the hay and some gardening tools. But that too, was also empty.

In the meantime, everyone had finished breakfast and as she went back out, calling the kids' names, some of those inside started to get curious. Moments later, the front yard was now filled with children and Miss Pony in their wake.

Only there, Sister Maria began asking the other kids if they knew anything. All the kids shook their heads. But through word to word and question to question, she started to find out more and more. It seemed that no one had actually remembered seeing them this morning!

The women once again checked the entire house, this time also going through the children's clothing. Their warmer clothes like woollen jumpers and winter pants were gone but apparently, their coats and hats were still on the hooks.

"You are right, Maria, if they got out, they must have left through the kitchen." said Miss Pony, whom Sister Maria shared her theory with.

"Maybe they had hidden in Tom's cart and quietly got off somewhere in the forest?" it occurred to Sister Maria.

"If they did, I hope they didn't go too far." Miss Pony said with great worry. "Without their coats they will quickly get cold."

Everyone got dressed warmly and the search began in earnest. For two more hours they had all searched nearby. But even in their secret hiding places, they found nothing.

"Is it possible that they went all the way to Tom's ranch?" Sister Maria suggested.

But when they called Tom, their hopes disappeared. The children weren't there either. "And there is no way they could have stayed hidden without me knowing about it." Tom added. "I unloaded all hay and the cart was empty. Even a mouse couldn't have been able to hide there."

They couldn't let the children wander any further into the forest; they could get lost too. Tom took as many of his men as he could and brought them along to continue the search.

But the morning turned into afternoon and the children were still missing. By then, everyone was seriously worried; it was an early winter day and it was beginning to go dark already.

It was sometime around six when Miss Pony answered a phone call. It was Candy, all cheerful, announcing her arrival in Lakewood and asking if they needed anything from the shop. She was unaware of what was going on and she turned serious when she was told about everything.

Candy, when she hung up, shared the news with someone who accompanied her to Lakewood. And _this_ person didn't waste time. A few minutes later a white touring sedan arrived, Candy quickly got in and they drove away as fast as possible towards Pony's Home. It usually took at least a couple of hours to get there and this time they had to be even more careful, mindful of the slippery road. When they arrived, about nine, they were told that the police had already been alerted and they were now searching, along with Tom and his men, in the forest.

Candy, after a quick greeting, did something rather unexpected. She went straight to the children's bedroom and began digging through the missing kids' belongings, just like both teachers had done hours ago. Only Sister Maria and Albert went along with her; the kids were told to stay in the reception room under Miss Pony's care.

"Sister Maria, let's go back to those footprints. You said there were none on the snow except for Tom's." Albert asked after a while, when Candy was almost done searching in the wardrobes and nightstands. Whatever she was looking for, it was clear that so far she hasn't found anything interesting, for she hasn't stopped for even a second. "But maybe they left earlier than we think? Maybe even _before _it started snowing?"

"No." Sister Maria was certain. "It started snowing when we had dinner and everyone was at the table. I'm sure because Lorena was helping me with washing up."

"What about later? Maybe they left unnoticed when it was still snowing and the snow covered their tracks?"

Sister Maria mused, trying to remember the previous evening. "No" she said after a moment. "I put them to bed and no one was missing. It stopped snowing for good soon after. But why are you asking me this?"

"Because it might be important to know _when_ they disappeared." Albert replied. Right now, he wasn't able to point out how exactly such information would be helpful in finding the missing kids. He only knew that it might be relevant. He wasn't a detective but since he had taken over the family business two years ago, his mind became more analytical than it used to be before. And now this mind was telling him that all details could be important.

"Albert, could you hold it for me?"

Albert glanced in Candy's direction. It seemed like she didn't find anything in the nightstands because she had begun stripping one of the beds and now she looked like she was also going to search under the mattress. It perplexed him but he didn't ask questions. He walked towards her and grabbed the mattress firmly, sure in the fact that it looked quite heavy. To his surprise, he could lift it with no effort whatsoever. The mattress was surprisingly light. Even a child could lift it up…

Candy ducked underneath the mattress and without any hesitation, she touched one of the wooden panels on the bottom that the bed frame was made of. The panel was apparently loose because one move of her hand and it came away easily, revealing an empty space underneath. But it wasn't actually empty; slipped underneath the other panels and nearly unnoticeable in the narrow gap laid something blue.

"I knew it!" Candy exclaimed and quickly pulled out her find from the gap. It was a little, thin school book and the childish wobbly handwriting on the cover announced to the world in big letters that it was 'Lorena's Secret Diary'.

Candy replaced the panel and without waiting for the mattress to be put back, sat down on the floor. "It's my old bed and my secret hiding place." She explained and opened the diary on her lap. "Looks like Lorena found it too. I hope her diary will tell us what she was up to…"

She trailed off, already focused on her reading. Her eyes quickly scanned the first ten pages and it was only at the most recent entries that she began reading more carefully.

"So, we know for sure that they didn't leave in the evening." Albert went on with the main subject. "And the lack of footprints on the snow makes it quite clear that they didn't sneak out at night. Morning is the only option left."

"That, we know already, Albert." Sister Maria reminded him, a bit impatiently. "The only way they could have left was to sneak out just before breakfast, when everyone was too busy to pay any attention to them."

"Still, something doesn't add up!" Albert pressed gently. "What about the other kids? You told us that they haven't even seen any of those three today."

"Albert, I don't know." Sister Maria was on a verge of tears. "What difference does it make, anyway? The kids are missing, this is what matters! What is important is that we have to do everything to find them! They are somewhere out there, in the cold…"

"I think I've got something." Candy interrupted the emotional moment. "Listen to this."

"_Dear Diary,_

_It's evening now. We just had dinner, helped washing up. We brushed teeth and Lee broke his toothbrush, I don't know how. We laughed at him, he is always so clumsy and Sister Maria scolded us. She gave him new one. Then we went to bed._

_I sleep near the window. And it's nice, because I can watch the snow without getting up. It was beautiful! I love snow._

_And then… I saw this pretty light in the sky. It was silver and sometimes yellow. And even purple! I told everybody and we all looked outside._

_And I argued with Big Mark. He says it has to be the moon because it shines so weirdly when the clouds are thin. He thinks he knows everything! And it's not true! I don't like when he is like that, like he thinks he is smarter than anyone else! The moon is never so big._

_I will check it. And I will prove that it wasn't a moon. I will go to our attic. This is the highest place in Pony's Home so from there I will be closer to the sky. The light still shines brightly. And I will find out what it is!_

_Diana and Jack are going with me because I'm a little scared to go alone. When we come back, I will write again, and it will stay here until the end of the world that I was right, not silly Mark!"_

Candy finished reading and for a moment, everyone was in complete silence. "There's nothing else," she said, showing them the next, blank page, "so it means Lorena never came back to write another note. And I bet the attic has something to do it. Did anyone check in there?"

"Well, no…" Sister Maria replied. "But there was no reason to. They couldn't get in there, it's locked."

"All locks can be opened." Albert interrupted. "Where is the key?"

"But that's the point! They couldn't enter there because the key had gone missing some time ago." Sister Maria explained. "But we only keep up there old furniture from the classroom, so we just left it as it was. We were going to change the padlock during the spring cleaning."

Candy turned to Albert and their gazes met. Sister Maria clearly didn't realize how important the detail she had just shared was.

"A dark, mysterious place full of old furniture, locked away by adults who never go there. And the padlock key that had gone _missing_ in unknown circumstances!" Albert summed up, accentuating the word meaningfully and then shook his head. "I think I told them too many stories from my childhood."

Before he even finished, Candy got up, hastily grabbed the electrical torch they brought from Lakewood and dashed outside the kids' bedroom. On the other side of the long corridor, in the main hall there was a narrow door and this was where she ran into. The high steps screeched lightly as she quickly climbed the stairs.

The dark, narrow staircase now filled with sounds of many footsteps; Albert and Sister Maria followed her. And so did some of the kids, attracted by all the fuss. They walked right behind Sister Maria, crowding and wanting to see as much as they could from behind her long black habit.

"So much for the locked door." Candy murmured to herself when she got to the top of the stairs. "Why am I not surprised?"

Albert, the only one who heard her quiet remark, looked from behind her shoulder. It was just as he suspected; the heavy padlock was still in place, hanging from the locking bar and to someone who would look at it from the bottom of the stairs it might have seemed like the door was indeed locked shut. Only someone who stood right next to it could notice that the iron bar wasn't inserted into the door's frame. And when she pushed the door handle, the door opened lightly, almost noiselessly.

"How weird…" Candy noted. "The last time I was here, when we were dragging this stuff up here, I remembered this door screeching so loud that it sent shivers down my spine…"

She looked closer at the door's hinge and then glanced back at Albert. He remembered too and had noticed what she quietly pointed to him. "Sister Maria, did you oil the hinge?" she asked.

"No. We wanted to but there was always something more important to take care of first…"

It was like they had thought; the hand that applied oil couldn't have belonged to an adult. That hand was inexperienced; the amount of oil used was so large that a significant part of it had leaked out everywhere. The wooden panels still carried a quite clear trace of dark stains where it dripped.

The microscopic, almost claustrophobic space of the attic looked just like any other attic would look after being converted into a storage room. It was filled all the way up to the sloping ceiling with old furniture; tables with folded legs placed vertically against the wall, a worn out black board on wheels and a mountain of chairs placed chaotically on top of one another.

"What a mess…" Candy murmured. "I thought we stored them more neatly…"

"Lorena!" Sister Maria called. "Diana! Jack! Are you here?"

No voices answered her call, no expected childish laughter sounded mockingly in a reply. But in the opposite side of the attic something knocked as if something was dropped onto the floor.

"Something is there." Candy stated. "Kids…" she called again and with a sound of warning in her voice, "…if that's you and you have been hiding here all this time when we are sick with worry about you…"

She was hoping that the kids, if they were indeed hiding here, would have understood her warning but again, no childish voices replied. Only the sound of repeated, muffled knocking.

"You are in_ so _much trouble!" Candy shouted, now sure that the kids were deliberately hiding from them for fun.

She dropped down onto her knees and looked under the lowest rows of chairs, helping herself with the torch. The bright beam of white light shot along the floor, inch by inch and for whoever might have been hidden behind the barricade of chairs, it was impossible to escape its beam

But she only found shadows cast by the chairs' legs. Behind the chairs, there was only a brick wall and nothing else.

"Weird…" she heard from above her head. She looked up; Albert stood with creased eyebrows, his eyes slowly and carefully scanning the entire space, from wall to wall and from the floor to the ceiling.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe I'm wrong but I could have sworn that I remember this attic being bigger…"

To everybody's puzzlement, Albert walked to the side of the barricade, where the tables stood, then to the other side, checking for something he only knew about. But they didn't get to ask him; he suddenly began removing the column of chairs that stood right next to the wall. And before they knew it, he had finished, pointing at something. "I knew I told them too many tales from my childhood." He commented.

As they walked to him and looked at what he was trying to show them, they couldn't believe their eyes. The mountain of chairs didn't fill the entire space between both walls. Between the chairs and the wall, there was a tunnel like looking gap, big enough for a slim person to squeeze through. And most definitely big enough for a child.

Without hesitation, Candy slipped into the gap and walking sideways, began moving along the tunnel. And soon enough, she got to a dead stop. The tunnel ended and before her, there was just an old massive wardrobe with a single, crack in the door. Big enough for three seven year olds to hide in.

"Now, I've got you, you little trouble makers!" she shouted.

Behind her, Albert had more trouble squeezing through. His body was bigger than Candy's and he was forced to move slower, even push the chairs away when it was necessary. But he also finally got to the spot where she stood, just in time to see her as she pulled the door knob. The door opened with a long creak of protest against being so abused. But once inside, they didn't see the expected rascals, grinning at them. They only saw a metal bar and some old working clothes that hung from coat hangers.

"It's empty! I don't understand…" Candy was more than just puzzled. "I was so sure that that noise was coming from in here…"

"Maybe it was a rat?" Sister Maria shouted out from behind the chairs.

In a gesture of building frustration, Candy banged her small fist against the back of the wardrobe. And then a shocking thing happened. The entire back panel didn't offer any resistance whatsoever and simply fell backwards, revealing a dark, empty space behind instead of the solid wall that they expected.

With her mouth still open in shock, Candy slowly walked through the newly created entrance and her jaw dropped even lower as she realized their mistake. Albert had been right when he said that he remembered the attic being bigger. The brick wall behind the chairs wasn't any wall at all; it was a chimney. It was wide enough that it covered the entire width of the floor and it was easy to think that there was nothing more behind it. But there was more; the chimney split the attic into two almost equal parts and this second part was exactly where the children had created their hiding place. The whole space behind the chimney had been cleared, the walls and the floor covered with old rugs. And on the back wall, underneath the window that overlooked the now brightly lit front yard, two old mattresses laid out on the floor, covered with a bunch of blankets. Those rugs and those blankets made the entire tiny secret chamber very cosy and the air in here was surprisingly warm, probably thanks to the chimney. The kids were here perfectly hidden from the world, yet, they could easily watch that outside world from here. It was a great hiding place; perfectly hidden, cosy, warm and comfortable.

And empty.

There were no doubts that the kids were coming up here very often and according to Lorena's diary, they also had come here last night… but now the place was empty.

"I really don't understand that…"

She didn't manage to finish when the knocking that they had all heard twice before, sounded again, this time louder. Instinctively, she pointed her torch in that direction and its spotlight found something that she hadn't noticed before. There was even some more space on the other side of the chimney and something protruded out from there. Yet again, it wasn't any of the missing kids. It wasn't a piece of furniture either. This thing was almost 3 foot tall, as tall as Little Jimmy and perfectly oval in shape.

"A rock?" Albert asked, his brows creased together in quizzical intensity. "Who brought such a huge rock up here?"

"A rock?" Sister Maria, whose head had just popped in through the secret door, sounded completely puzzled. "What are you talking about? Why would there be any rocks up here…?"

"A-Albert…" Candy called him with a hesitant voice. She came so close to the weird object that she could almost touch it if she wanted to and she was the one who could see it best. "I don't think it's a rock. That looks more like… an egg."

Albert came closer and stood right behind her. "You and your imagination, Candy..! Don't be silly, how can it be an egg? Eggs this size simply don't exist on Earth…"

He trailed off suddenly and his eyes widened. It was the 'rock'. As if replying to his last words, it began pulsating faintly in a golden glow.

Candy jumped back with a terrified shriek. "N-not _on_ Earth, n-no…" she said in a shaking voice. "That's… you know…" she hesitated, "…an UNEARTHLY egg."

Albert was almost as shocked as her. But he tried to be rational, as usually. "Candy, I think you have read way too much science fiction books from my library. Be serious. It can't be an egg! It is just some huge vase, turned upside down, and it is probably so thin that the light goes right through it and illuminates it…" he reasoned.

And to prove his theory, he bravely approached the 'rock', bent over and reached out his hand to grab its bottom and turn it upside down.

And here was where all his logic ended. The moment his hand touched the surface, the 'rock', which so far had been glowing in faint gold, now pulsed strongly with a dark purple light. In shock, Albert sprang backwards and continued to stare at the now purple glowing object with widened eyes. Now even he couldn't deny it.

There was no way that the white, electrical light could have created such an effect!

"Dear God, what is it?" Sister Maria nearly choked from behind their backs.

"I… don't know." Albert replied hesitantly. "I've crossed a few continents but I swear, I've never seen anything like this."

Whatever the nature of the object really was, it was nevertheless fascinating and for a few long moments, they watched as the illumination began slowly losing its intensity until it was only a faint pink and then, turned back into gold. They were scared and yet mesmerised.

"The diary." spoke Candy in a quiet, tense voice.

Albert was too focused on the object before them that he didn't understand the meaning of her words at all. "What about it?" he asked her with a bit of absent mindedness.

"In her diary, Lorena said something about 'pretty light' in the sky… silver, yellow… and sometimes purple." Candy explained thoughtfully. "This thing here shines in exactly the same way. Do you think it's a coincidence?"

Albert averted his gaze from the mysterious object and became completely serious. They all were so intrigued by the find that for a moment, they forgot what the real purpose of their presence here was.

"You have a point, Candy." He replied in a very dark tone. "No matter how crazy it sounds, there is a connection here. That light was the reason for the children to come up here. Question is: did they leave after? And if not, did this thing have something to do their disappearance? And how?"

"Do you think they were... taken?" Candy suggested with fear in her voice. "You know, by... aliens?"

"What nonsense are you two talking about?" Sister Maria cut in, visibly irritated. "I thought you would be serious about helping us search for the children, not to treat this as some imaginative adventure and make up ridiculous theories about whatever it is you call it! I thought better of you! "

She turned away and before they could stop her, she walked back out through the broken wardrobe. After a moment, they heard her struggling again to squeeze through the narrow tunnel and soon after that, the shoeing away of the kids that had sneaked into the attic in a meantime. The stomping of many small feet told them that the group had become more numerous than when they had first entered the attic.

And then, the door shut loudly with a bang, as if pulled hard by an angry hand and then the silence fell in the attic.

Candy looked at Albert with despair, biting her lips. "She is just sick with worry about the kids and shocked by this thing, Candy." He said reassuringly. "Maybe even more than we are. And you must admit that this theory is indeed crazy... I can imagine how she feels..."

"We'd better go down and talk to her. I don't want her to be angry at us."

She turned to walk away when Albert stopped her. "Candy, could you leave me the torch?" he requested. "I will stay here. I want to have a better look at our find. We need to know what it is."

Candy hesitated for a few seconds before passing the torch to his hands. "Just… be careful, Albert, okay?" she pleaded with worry. "I can't explain why but I have bad feelings about this… It's like it was… dangerous."

Albert nodded with all seriousness. "I will, don't worry." He promised.

Downstairs, it took Candy a while to calm Sister Maria a bit. She had to admit to herself that Albert was right; worrying about the missing children would put anyone's nerves on the edge. That alone was enough – and their find was just too much. The theory was mad enough for them, even if they lived in the big, modern city and had already read about paranormal activities in the newspapers. For a person who lived in a desolate place on the country side without having access to such articles, for someone as down-to-Earth and at the same time so strong in her faith as Sister Maria, it must have been ten times worse. It was hard to explain this to her, especially that Candy wasn't sure about it herself. The object they had found made everything more complicated than it was already. She had no idea what its role in the children's disappearance that could have been, nor had she a clue as to where they were and how to find them.

And she didn't have the courage to say that their find had awoken a deep, almost primal fear in her and in her opinion, they should take the rest of the kids away until they had solved the entire mystery. It would have sounded too ridiculous, even to them.

But perhaps she should have had.

Some time had passed and Albert finally came downstairs, too. He pulled her to one side and discreetly told her something that made her heart beat faster.

"You are crazy to risk that with so much!" she whispered with anger. "We have no idea what this thing is! Don't you dare go back there alone, with just bare hands!"

He didn't protest when she ordered him to go to the barn and find some sharp tools, just in case they needed them for self defence. Back in the attic, when she had left, Albert had tried to once again touch the weird object but this time he didn't remove his hand when the light changed into purple. And according to what he said, this time he had felt more. The light was accompanied by a slight, a bit unpleasant, vibration. He had no doubts. It was a warning.

While he was out, searching for the tools, she went back to the children's bedroom where she found Sister Maria and Miss Pony, busy tending to the kids. The events of the day and the worry for the missing kids kept everyone on edge but the hour was really late, and while both teachers were going to stay up all night, they knew that at least the youngest ones should be put to bed. They were yawning widely and didn't protest while they were being dressed into their pyjamas. But it was clear that it won't be as easy to make the older kids to do the same. They also had their pyjamas on but one look at them was enough to know for sure that they were far from even thinking about going to sleep. They all sat on one of the beds, bunched up together like a club of conspirators, whispering feverishly to each other about the discovery that they were forbidden to see and they were so excited and full energy that it was obvious that no power would make them fall asleep now. So when the teachers tried and failed to calm them down and then simply took them back to the reception room, Candy understood. It was perhaps easier to let the kids stay up longer and wait until they finally run out of energy rather than force them to go to bed now and having even more energy wasted on trying to keep them silent.

As the teachers with the older kids went to the reception room, she offered to stay behind to make sure that the youngest fell asleep. And they made no trouble at all. It didn't even take a few minutes before their sleepy voices calling her every now and then, had gone silent and the only sounds in the room were just their calm breathing, sometimes sighs and swishing of the duvets as they twisted and turned in their beds.

Carefully, not wanting to make any noise, Candy picked up her small travelling bag which has being on the floor since she had dropped it there upon their arrival. Back at the Andrews' villa, when she had mere minutes before leaving for the orphanage there was just enough time for her to grab some spare clothes and now they were about to become useful. Inside the bag, she had a pair of trousers, shirt and a jumper; an outfit definitely more practical than the dress that she wore now.

Quickly, she undid the buttons and let the dress fall down onto the wooden floor, leaving her only in her underwear. And just as she dove into her bag to take her garments out, she froze mid move. A loud crack was heard from upstairs and less than a second later, a scream filled her ears. It was a terrifying scream of a person in his utmost need and all the blood drained from her face when she recognized the voice, even though it had changed so much.

"Albert!" she moaned and she dashed for the door.

They say that fear gives people wings. Maybe that's true because she ran down the corridor in mere seconds. But she wasn't the first one to reach the stairs leading to the attic. The reception room was closer and some of the kids were already on the stairs before her, looking up into the attic.

"No" she screamed out, warningly. "Don't go up there!"

Only two of them had listened; the other four continued climbing up the stairs. She hurried after them, her feet stomping loudly on the wooden steps as she ran in almost complete darkness. But they climbed much faster than her; one of them apparently had a small torch and they could see so much better than her. She only caught up with them when they were already in the attic. One of the boys and two girls had already squeezed into the gap between the wall and the chairs and she only managed to stop the second boy from entering too.

"Let go! I want to see it too!" he protested but she only pushed him away, towards the door.

"Kids, come back, now!" she ordered them in a frightened voice and as they continued to ignore her, she too squeezed into the tunnel. "Albert, are you there?"

But no reply came from the other side of the barricade and that scared her even more that the noises had done before. Within the passing of a second, she realized that there was something different; the noises and screaming had stopped as soon as they ran up the stairs. She didn't want to even begin to think what could be the reason for this sudden silence.

"Albert, answer me!" she shouted with despair.

Kids, like any other kids, all tried to be the first one to enter through the broken wardrobe. This was what slowed them down for a second and she managed to grab the girls by their clothes. But the boy was in front of them and he was already in there…

She only saw the faint yellow beam of his little torch quickly searching all over the secret room and this faint light was enough to see that Albert wasn't here. The beam of light continued its search along the chimney and then suddenly came to an abrupt stop.

And then, the boy started screaming at top of his lungs and in his fright, he dropped the torch.

She quickly let go of the two girls and in one single jump, she was at his side and retrieved the torch from the floor. One move and she could soon also look in the same direction as he…

Albert wasn't here, no. But there was something else...

Again, the girls were quicker to react; their high pitch screams almost shattered her ears.

A second later, she too, also joined in, in this dead awakening cacophony of terror.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

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The instinctive fear she had felt from the very moment they saw the 'egg' seemed thus far, irrational. But it wasn't irrational. It was far worse than that. The danger was all very real!

Where the egg once was, now only half of the shell remained; the top half was scattered around on the floor in pieces. And in the middle of this crunched up mess, there was a creature with a look that could only appear in someone's most hideous and worst nightmares. One look at it and it was enough to understand that they were in the worst trouble possible.

The creature, clearly provoked by their ear shattering screams, hissed sharply and lurched forward in their direction. The sight of its open, enormous jaws and the red goo dripping from its razor sharp teeth was enough to freeze the blood in Candy's veins. Her entire body froze, so had her voice too.

_We're dead, _she thought with despair, just before saying a rapid goodbye to the world. She had no stood no chances.

The monster lurched again, this time, spitting some bloody gloop on them and instinctively, Candy touched her stained face. The liquid under her fingers felt incredibly sticky and smelt awful. But that didn't matter. Who could care about such a bad smell when their life was about to end?

Like her, the kids stopped screaming, too scared to make a sound. They could only stand there and watch in sheer terror, as the jaw opened wider and wider still, ready to swallow them whole in one go…

The monster lurched yet again and it was precisely this that made Candy snap out of the numbness. Why were they still alive? They stood only a few feet away from this _thing_ and they should have been dead by now…

When suddenly, she understood. The monster was scary, deadly dangerous and aggressive… and yet it couldn't move properly. It looked like the bottom part, of what seemed like its chunky sized body, was somehow still stuck inside the bottom part of the shell. Maybe it was all that sticky goo that still held it in its place? After all, it had only hatched moments ago...

The thing stretched out its spindly arms and dug its claw-like nails deep into the wooden floor. It then proceeded to drag its body, albeit rather slowly, along the floor.

They all stood rooted to the where they were, unable to move by the terror that had now gripped each and every one of them.

The creature repeated its movements, only this time, it dug its nails hard into the floor and it seemed to have gotten stuck. Unable to move, it began to thrash around wildly, hissing as it did. This only lasted a second or so before the beast tore apart the floorboard that held it in place. Its strength was just incredible. Once freed, it resumed with what it was doing before, and that was inching itself closer and yet closer still.

"Candy!" asked an alarmed female voice from the distance, bringing Candy back to reality, to the reality in which other people still existed. "What's with all this screaming?"

In a rapid movement, Candy grabbed both the girls' hands and swung around. "Run, girls, run!" she shouted, pushing them towards the wardrobe. And immediately after, she turned to retrieve the boy. He still stood there, in the middle of the floor, still like a stone statue. He didn't even seem to have noticed that the girls had gone. She had to literally drag him towards the wardrobe and push him through.

"Run! Just run, get out!" Candy yelled back at the top of her voice, still having trouble in dealing with the fear gripped boy. The torch flickered and died so now they were making their way out in almost complete darkness, holding onto the wall, her heart was threatening to explode from beating so furiously and she couldn't even turn around to see if they were being followed or not! Maybe the monster was already behind her?

Finally though, they were through the barricade of chairs and Candy darted for the exit. Almost without stopping, she grabbed the edge of the door and slammed it behind them. For a monster that strong, it would probably be just a very minor obstacle, if at all, but at least it will slow it down for a bit, giving them an extra precious second or two.

"Out!" she screamed as loud as she could as she bolted down the stairs. In the pitch black staircase, the light coming from downstairs seemed like a light at the end of a tunnel and she couldn't wait to reach it. "Everybody out!

Already on the last steps, she knew that no one had heard her warnings. The teachers were too busy trying to calm down the utterly petrified kids and her voice was drowned out in their screams.

"Everybody, get out of here!" She yelled once again, feeling how her lungs, exhausted by an unnaturally fast breathing were beginning to fail her. "There's a monster up there..!"

"What?" Miss Pony was shocked. "What are you talking about, child?"

"Sister Maria, the egg we saw earlier... it hatched." Candy explained fervently. "No time now but I swear on my life that it's dangerous! You need to trust me. Get. The. Kids. Out. Now!"

Sister Maria didn't hesitate any longer; her earlier doubts had now disappeared. What Candy was saying still sounded like fantasy to her but she herself had heard the hissing noises in the attic that sent a chill to her bone, and now, she would believe in Candy's words.

Making a quick decision, she turned to Miss Pony and ordered her to take all the kids outside out before running for the bedroom, with Candy hot on her heels. Without wasting time, they simply took the scared, crying kids out their beds and carrying two kids each, they hurriedly ran back to the hallway.

Miss Pony was waiting for them outside, with all the older kids huddled around her like a flock of chicks around a mother hen.

"I'm cold, Miss Pony!" one of them squeaked.

"It doesn't matter." Candy cut in abruptly. "Better cold than dead."

"Candy, how can you be so harsh!" Miss Pony scolded her. "First, you are scaring us to death and now you are rude!"

"Miss Pony, I'm sorry but I'm not being harsh, I'm practical. No time for complaints. We need to take the kids as far away from here as possible and now! Trust me; I saw this thing and we have will have no chances when it finally gets down here!"

"Maybe Tom's farm?" Sister Maria suggested.

Candy looked at her with gratitude for support. "Yes. Let's get the horse and the carriage, quick! Boys, go ahead and open the door! It will warm you up a bit!" she commanded and as they obeyed, ran after them towards the barn.

"But the kids do have a point, Candy. If we are going that far, they will freeze in their pyjamas. You too are not dressed right for the weather..." Sister Maria shouted, trying to keep up with her.

Candy looked down. There was shock when she realized that she was indeed standing wearing only her bra and bloomers. Right up until now, she hadn't even notice that she was running around on the snow in bare feet! She didn't feel the cold at all! She felt nothing except for an all-consuming dread, a sickening fear.

"I will go back home." Sister Maria decided and in a shaky voice "I don't care what happens to me; the children are more important."

"No!" Candy protested firmly and put down both the kids she was carrying on the barn floor. "I... I will go. I can run much faster."

"But I can run even faster than you!" one of the boys cut in with a typical childlike bravado. "And I'm not scared of any monsters! You are, because you are just a girl!"

"Johnny!" Candy bent over and looked the boy seriously in the eyes. "No kidding now. You are the oldest and the strongest boy here and this is exactly why I want you to be here and help Miss Pony and Sister Maria to get the carriage ready."

In the meantime, Miss Pony had also just got to the barn and now she was directing all the kids to work. Seeing this, Candy turned around to run back to the orphanage. But she stopped and after a second of hesitation, she grabbed the pitchfork that stood by the door and only then, she hurried outside.

Once inside the house, she stopped and with a clenched throat, approached the staircase, which she had to pass by, to get to the bedroom. So far, there hadn't been any signs that the creature was coming down this way. Swallowing hard to suppress her overwhelming fear, she ran to the kids' room.

There, without wasting a second, she began grabbing all manner of clothing that she could find, including her own. There wasn't any time for dressing now. She moved quickly, at the same time, focused on listening for any suspicious sounds coming from the attic or any telltale movements.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something. Something in the shadows, something that looked like had it moved. She tensed up, tensed up to the point of pain. After maybe a minute or so, nothing had moved and she knew that her eyes were playing tricks on her. That's when a thought had occurred to her and she dropped everything onto one of the beds and ran to the window to open it. That way, if the creature came anywhere near the door, she just might have a chance of escape. It was a slight chance, but a chance nonetheless.

It was almost impossible to pick up and carry all the clothes that she had found, so for a better comfort and ease of carrying, she wrapped them in a big blanket and tied its ends into a tight knot. She dragged the load to the window and went back for the last thing – her shoes.

And it was when she had bent over to retrieve them, a shadow appeared on the floor next to her feet, cast by the light coming from the corridor.

Her heart missed a beat and she froze. That was it. She was in here for too long and now she was going to pay for it – with her life. And again, she was defenceless – the pitchfork that she had brought with her was out of reach!

Unable to even swallow, she said a fast prayer and glanced up slowly, expecting the worst.

"Johnny!" she almost choked, "What on Earth are you doing here? I told you to help with the carriage!"

"The other boys helped too and it's ready now." The boy explained. "I sneaked out to help _you_."

"Have you got any idea how much of a risk you are taking?" she snapped at him. But she couldn't be mad at him for scaring her. After all it was better to almost get a heart attack from his sudden appearance than being attacked for real.

She was just about to make him go back the same way he came when some creak came from above their heads. She changed her mind. "Fine." She nodded. "If you want to help me, jump out the window."

"What?"

"I'm not going to risk going through the house again with you and this load." She explained concisely, pointing at the clothes wrapped in the blanket. Then, she finished putting her shoes on. "Jump out and I will drop it down to you."

The boy listened and a moment later, the clothes were outside. Candy grabbed few more blankets and jumped out too. Carrying the load together, they ran towards the front of the house where the teachers and the kids waited, huddled together and trembling. In great haste, they threw the clothes into the carriage and jumped in themselves, urging Sister Maria to go.

"But Candy..." Miss Pony inquired slowly and when Candy looked at her, she saw a very serious face and a silent question in her gaze. "Where is Albert? He went to the attic when you were putting the kids to bed but I didn't see him coming back down with you..."

Candy felt as if she was stabbed right through the heart. Miss Pony had asked about something that she didn't want to even think about. For the last few minutes and especially since their escape from the attic, she was subconsciously keeping herself focused on everything but this... And now... now, it came back to hit her with a full force. She still had a view of the creature's huge jaws and the blood dripping from its teeth...

To delay that moment as much as she could, she took the blankets and covered the shivering kids. "He..." she stammered, not wanting to say too much in front of so many young and innocent ears, "He wasn't there anymore when we got there."

"Then where is he?" Miss Pony didn't understand her clue. "Sister Maria, stop the horse! We can't leave him there alone..."

"Miss Pony!" Candy cut her off pressingly and looked her meaningfully in the eyes. "The thing is... That creature… He went there when it hatched and…."

She hung her voice and her old teacher seemed to finally understand because she gasped quietly.

"He's not coming." Candy finished blankly. "He's gone."


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

She felt dead already. She moved, she breathed, she still spoke while dressing the trembling children but inside, she felt dead. The monster could have come now and eaten her too and it probably wouldn't make much difference to her.

What was left for her? _He_ was gone. All the time until now, she didn't realize, she didn't _want to_ realize what it really meant. She did everything to push all those thoughts to the back of her consciousness, focused solely on surviving and getting the children to safety but now, after Miss Pony's words, she couldn't deny it anymore. It wasn't just a nightmare. It was worse than that. It was reality.

She didn't even feel pain; only emptiness. She felt like her entire being was drained of any life, any emotions. She wasn't even scared anymore. She wanted to die and only the thought that the children needed her right now stopped her from getting off the carriage and going back to the orphanage. They were responsible not only for their physical wellbeing but for their mental health. They were still terrified, especially the three who were with her and saw the creature with their own eyes. Every now and then, they kept casting scared glances on the road behind them, to make sure that their nightmare wasn't chasing them.

Miss Pony didn't have to ask long to get them to describe what they saw.

"It... it looked like... an ugly lizard." One of the girls stuttered. "The ugliest in the world!"

"And it had a big head." The other added. "Like a..." She hesitated and frowned as her mind fervently searched for some familiar object to describe it, "like a big, long watermelon! But it was black, not green. And it had scary teeth."

The other kids were petrified but listened to ever word eagerly nonetheless.

They were near Tom's farm when they heard rustling noises coming from their right. The forest stretched out on both sides, even though the full moon was out, it was still dark and mysterious in the night time and they couldn't see a thing in the forest. But to their relief, it was only a wild animal that ran past in front of them, scared off by something.

Soon, they found out what had scared it off. Further down in the forest, between the trees, silver beams of light flashed between their trunks. But however much it had scared them at first, they calmed down after a moment. There was nothing unearthly about those lights, although they did create a bit of an eerie atmosphere. The answer was simple; it was just a group of men riding through the forest and using their torches to find the best way through for their horses. It wasn't long before they got to the road and they could see their faces.

It was Tom with seven of his employees, who went this far in their search.

It was easy to predict that the men wouldn't believe them at first, even when there was a detailed description of the beast. "Are you sure it wasn't a bear?" one of the workhands', a man in his late forties, mocked, when they heard their full story. "Women always exaggerate..."

But under Tom's scolding gaze they went silent and without any further questions they all offered to go back to the orphanage and take care of the problem, bear or no bear. It was decided that they should escort everyone to Steven's Farm for safety. Upon arriving, they immediately gathered more weapons. They looked like they were just about to laugh again when Candy insisted on also taking knifes, axes and any other farm or cutting implement they could find but they did as she asked. However, from the whispers that she had overheard, they only did this as a reason to tease her later, that this woman's hysteria forces them to think that they would have needed an entire army against one, poor bear. Even amongst themselves, they were already placing bets about who was going to fire the deciding shot and go back home carrying the bear's fur as a trophy!

But Candy only clenched her teeth together in silence. It didn't matter that they didn't believe her; she understood their reaction and the men were about to find out all too soon, how wrong they were. What really mattered was everyone's safety and getting rid of the danger.

She had no doubts about what she had to do. She had actually made this decision as soon as they met Tom and his men in the forest but she left announcing it until now. And as she did, a wave of protests raised from both women and men. "We've lost Albert, we can't risk your life too!" they tried to convince her. "You, with us? Ridiculous. How can a girl like you be of any help?" the men grumbled sarcastically. But she didn't sway and again, Tom's word had won the day. After all, she was a nurse. She could join them, for as long as she stayed aside and didn't interrupt.

Interrupt..? Candy grimaced. But she didn't say a word; there was no time for it. Besides, there was no point in explaining; no one could have fully understood. And she just_ had to_. She was a nurse, yes, but she had another reason. Even if this was going to be the last thing that she did in her life – she just had to go back… For _Him. _To avenge his deathand perhaps to…

Without Him, her own life had lost any sense anyway.


	4. Chapter 4

_Hi all! For those that have read Crossroads II, you will know that this story is different than what __you are used to reading. I felt somewhat conned into this, as I was told that I would be given free __rein to write anything I wanted for the action fight scene, only for it to be cruelly snatched away by __not having anyone horribly mutilated (I wanted to write something that would give Stephen King __nightmares)!_

**_*Spoilers*_**

_To the fans of 'Alien',I am fully aware of the mytos surrounding 'Alien' but I had to use a bit of __artistic licensing as I was not allowed to use face huggers or chest bursters, by order of Gosia (I haz a __sad!)._

**_*End spoilers*_**

_I hope you enjoy part two of TPHM._

_Logan_

_._

**CHAPTER 4**

.

On horses, the ride back to Pony's Home took a much, much shorter time. And already from a short distance they could hear that something was going on. They couldn't identify the characteristics of those sounds at first but as they approached the orphanage's property, it became clear that it was the panicked shrill coming from several of the chicken's throats. Living their life on the farm, they have all heard, more than on one occasion, the panic amongst the chickens in the cases where a fox or a marten had broken into the henhouse but this sounded nothing like that. It was obvious that whatever was attacking them this time, was bigger, much bigger than a fox.

The men urged their horses to gallop even ever faster and Candy did the same. However, with each covered yard remaining, the sounds became less and less intense… And that only meant…

They had now reached the main entrance way that led them into the grounds. Here, they slowed to a trot and made their way towards the barn, from where all the commotion had come from. As they neared the buildings, their steeds stopped. Some wanting to turn back whereas some, reared up. The horses had sensed something and they refused to take another step.

The group dismounted. Tom wanted Candy to stay with the horses but she steadfastly refused. He had no other option but to let his youngest worker stay behind. He was even younger than Candy.

The lights outside the house were still on, no one had switched it off earlier and now most of the area was bathed in light. With the light from the full moon reflecting off the snow, it was almost as bright as day.

The first thing that grabbed everybody's attention was a gaping hole in the sloping roof. That was actually the wrong expression to say 'it was just a 'hole' in the roof; the entire corner of the attic simply stopped existing. Roof tiles and bricks from the side wall lay scattered onto the snow below, some quite far from the house and from the roof, hung pieces of broken rafters. It looked like it was torn apart from the inside by some unknown, terrible force.

"Do you honestly think that a bear could do that?" Asked Candy in a dark tone and stared firmly at each man. Some of them looked puzzled, a few faces showed something akin to fear. But everyone was serious and no one tried to tease her anymore.

Candy winced; she had no doubts what had made that hole. She was just shocked at how powerful the creature happened to be! And to think that she had spent so many minutes in the kids' bedroom, naively thinking that the creature would have to use the stairs to get down! It might have had bitten its way down through the ceiling above her!

Weirdly, the thought only made her clench her jaws tighter.

OOOOO

The group spread out a bit as they edged closer to the open barn doors. They cautiously approached, each person readying their weapon.

The barn doors were set in the middle of the barn, with the henhouse situated on the left side of the building while the right side was used for storage.

The plan was simple, someone would have to chase the beast out from the barn and the rest will capture or kill it. Two of the workers volunteered to venture inside and take a look. Even though it was bright enough to see outside, inside the barn would be a different matter. There was no denying that they had to be quick. Their torches flickered due to the cold. There was no telling when the light would die.

The older of the men, the one who had mocked Candy earlier, looked at her and back at the barn.

With pistols at the ready, the two passed the gap in the fence, with barbed wire on the top, that surrounded the barn and nervously walked in. They looked around as best they could using the dim light of their torches. When they shone the beams in the direction of the henhouse, a gruesome sight greeted their eyes. There was blood and entrails all over the walls and ceiling whilst chicken feathers splattered in red, carpeted the floor. There had been a lot of chickens in here earlier and now there were none. They knew that whatever animal did this, was big, much bigger than anyone had first thought. How can that be?

But yet…

Nothing. The beast wasn't here.

There was nothing here.

Not even a single chicken.

The two men lowered their guns, turned and looked back outside. "Nothing here!" shouted the younger man just before a flash of white shot past their faces from their right with frightening speed. The older man screamed like a little girl while the younger one let off a shot. He missed.

The group that waited outside didn't have a clue what was going on.

"We're ok!" They heard someone shout out from inside the barn.

The two men inside, turned and looked at the white object now laying on the ground. To their enormous relief, it was a chicken. A dead one. They looked closer and their fears bubbled back up to the surface when they realised that it was a headless chicken. It wasn't the headless chicken that had scared them, it was the fact that it had been thrown. That was when something ran past them.

OOOOO

Everyone outside waited nervously. They couldn't actually see the two cowhands but they could see the beams from their torches moving quickly left and right and back again. Then they heard gunshots. They braced themselves, ready for attack, ready for the beast or whatever it was, to come running out.

That didn't happen. A second or so later, they witnessed the torches fall to the floor.

The drop had dislodged the huge batteries and caused the torches to flicker and then fade.

The inside of the barn was swallowed up in darkness once more.

Silence.

Tom called to everyone to shine their torches through the barn door and they all did so as quickly as they could.

They could all now see inside the barn, the doorway at least. What they saw drained the blood from their faces. The two co workers were unconscious on the floor and… something… something was crouched over them. Its spiny back was facing them and something that looked like a long snake was flicking, side to side.

The commotion outside caused the creature to slowly stand up and turn its huge, hammer shaped head around. No one had seen anything like this before. It stood slightly taller than a man but its gargoyle like, dark muscular body shone a deep black in the torchlight. Its deep crimson red eyes glowed like hot coals as it looked at them. Then there was the creature's tail, swinging to and fro as if with a mind of its own.

_This couldn't possibly be the same creature that Candy had described earlier, _thought Tom, who was the only one amongst the men who actually wanted to believe his 'almost sister'. The weird thing was -it was actually _easier_ to believe her words, whereas now, he had problems with accepting this, even thought he had proof right there in front of him. This _thing_ was just… unimaginable!

The creature now turned and faced them.

_She must have had gotten it wrong._ He concluded. According to what she had told them, the creature was slightly shorter than her. But the one in front of them was taller than himself! How?

The thing stretched out its long, spindly arms and hissed at them. They could see its claws dripping with blood from an unknown source. One by one, they slowly placed the torches on the floor and those armed with guns took aim. But they didn't fire. The reason was simple; everyone had frozen with panic as the monstrosity lowered itself and opened its jaws. Wide. So many sharp teeth. Red blood dripped from its open mouth and sploshed onto the barn floor. They had never seen so many razor sharp teeth.

That, and the half masticated, headless chicken stuck in its teeth.

The creature shook its head violently and the chicken flew out of its mouth, hitting the side of the barn with bone shattering force.

It then let out a shriek, stared at them for two more seconds then sprang without warning. Too late, the guns fired.

The horses, panicked by all this commotion, were calmed down by the young farmhand as best as he could.

The creature ran with lighting speed right through them, taking a part of the fence and wire with it. Two more men fell to the floor. Red stains on the snow covered floor beneath them grew ever bigger.

Candy rushed to the fallen to see if there was anything she could do. And running just behind her were the workers with Tom at the rear. "Don't let it out of your sight!" shouted one of the fallen men. "Don't let it get away!" shouted the other. Candy knew they were wounded but still turned back.

Tom and the others also turned, in time to see the creature scale up the side of the wall with ease like a giant spider. They could all see that there was something tangled up on the creature's ankle. Instinctively, they began chaotically firing their rifles and guns at the creature as it continued to climb.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Bang. Bang

Click. Click. Click.

The creature stopped climbing. It turned its head and looked down at them from its high perch. It looked at them as if it knew. As if it knew that they were out of bullets.

_That's impossible!_

With frightening speed and agility, the creature jump and twisted its body around in mid air. It landed with a loud thud in the snow, right in the middle of their remaining group, in front of one of the workers. Before he could react, the creature slashed his leg with its claws, and he too, like the rest, collapsed to the ground in pain.

The other worker threw his rifle to one side and lifted up his axe. He then rushed at the creature, ready to strike the beast down. Tom and Candy too, rushed towards the creature with weapons at the ready.

The thing swatted the attacking worker as easily as a man swatted away a fly. The worker felt a pain in his chest before he flew in an arc, backwards and landed ten feet away. His thick winter coat absorbed some of the hit impact and saved him from the worst but he had no doubts he had at least, a few broken ribs.

Not having time to arm himself with another weapon, Tom swung his rifle butt and hit the creature hard on the head, knocking it down.

_How can it still be so strong? Did the bullets miss?_ thought Tom. But another glance told him that he was wrong. The creature could have seemed indestructible at first but it wasn't. As it jumped up from the ground and stood upwards again, they all noticed this time that some parts of its body was oozing a bright green, fluorescent liquid. It took him a moment to realise in shock what it was. It was the creature's blood!

In the very next moment, that blood had become his own personal problem. The beast turned around rapidly, splattering the green liquid all around. Some of the drops landed on his bare hands. Disgusted, he tried to wipe it off and then a second later, he felt an almost unbearable pain burning his hands. He screamed uncontrollably and brought his hand closer to his eyes. His skin was blistered.

"Watch out, guys!" he shouted a warning. "Its blood burns!"

Perhaps it was his loud scream that provoked the beast even more; before he could even see what happened, he felt a sharp pain in his ribs as he was knocked to the ground. His body twisted in pain, he couldn't even breathe and all blood drained from his heart when he saw the ugly head near his as the beast bent down over him…

Face to face, the creature opened its jaws.

Candy reacted instinctively. The creature stood with its back to her and she simply swung the scythe, dropping it onto the creature's right arm, the one that was reaching for Tom's head. A blood chilling shriek filled the air, having them almost drop their weapons to protect their ears from such an unbearable noise but somehow, they held. She pulled the scythe harder to herself, slicing into the beast's arm even more. More green liquid oozed out, the creature shrieked louder – but it worked, the creature's arm fell limp.

What she did, saved Tom's life - for now - but what she did also had definitely gained the beast's attention. And she immediately understood one thing; she was safe, _relatively_ safe, for as long as she didn't let go of the scythe. It was so firmly embedded in the creature's flesh that she couldn't take it out – but that was also precisely what had held the thing at a distance.

It couldn't reach her – but it didn't meant that it would give up. Its body twisted left before violently twisting it back right again. Candy held on for her life as tight as she could and was flung back and forth. With her weight, she was no match at all for the creature almost twice as tall as she was; she was just hoping that the violent movement itself would cause it to bleed more– if they could call that blood –and perhaps eventually grow weak enough for them to finally take it down. In the corner of her eye, she could even see the men who were still capable of standing, readying their weapons.

Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. She hadn't considered the strength of the wooden handle. And that was a mistake. With another powerful twist, the old handle couldn't take the strain anymore and snapped. This in turn, threw Candy back a few feet and out of the creature's reach.

The creature's hand reached for the scythe that was still stuck in its other arm, pulled it out and dropped it onto the snow. Then the beast turned to face Candy and started to move towards her. But merely after two steps, it stopped and tilted its head, as if surprised by something. And then they saw it; its left leg had caught on something. The creature turned its head down and looked at its ankle. Somehow, a long piece of wire had tangled itself around its leg. The creature tracked the taut wire back a few feet and saw a worker holding on tightly. It dismissed him altogether, turned back to Candy and began walking towards her, dragging the hapless man along the snow.

With blood still pouring out from his thigh, the worker limped as fast as he could towards the creature, axe in hand. He knew he wouldn't be fast enough to reach the creature before it got to the girl.

He saw that the creature was dragging something along behind him. He didn't know what it was but he had to grab it. Maybe he could hold it back, even for just a few precious seconds?

He hopped and jump forwards, arms stretched, dropping his axe in the process. He grabbed whatever it was he was grabbing for with both hands and pulled. He realised what it was when he grabbed it, it was barbed wire. Too late now, the creature was looking at him…

He lurched forward. The creature was on the move. He tried to pull the creature back and felt the barbs cut into his glove. He let out a scream but he had to hold on. In great pain, he pulled the wire back, stopping the creature from advancing. The pain was now unbearable as the barbs began cutting away at his palms. He needed to buy them some time. The next thing he knew, he was being dragged through the snow.

The beast took a swipe with its left arm, its thin, sharp claws cutting Candy across her left shoulder and chest. Momentarily stunned, with a scream of pain she dropped the broken scythe handle and fell down backwards onto the snow.

The workhand could barely hold the creature back any longer. The barbs from the wire had cut into his thick gloves and was now cutting into his hands. He couldn't hold on any longer and let go of the wire. The beast was free at last and lunged forward. Candy closed her eyes. _This is it_ she thought.

But weirdly, she wasn't afraid. Someone with no bright future ahead has nothing to look forward to - and thus, nothing to lose.

Seeing the creature being held back by his worker had given Tom an idea. Clutching his chest and in great pain, he tried to run as fast as he could towards the horses.

"LASSOS!" he shouted to the young man who stayed behind with the horses. "Eric, get the lassos!"

The young man quickly unhooked the ropes everyone had fixed to their saddles. He took five – this was as much he could carry without having the risk of them tangling together – hung four of them on his left arm and with the fifth one in his hands, ran towards Tom. Meeting half way, he gave Tom the rope.

Tom quickly turned and made a bee line straight for the monster. Running, he opened the prepared loop at the end of it, and suppressing his pain, began swirling it above his head and prayed that there was enough time to reach it.

There wasn't.

The beast was free. Candy lay there almost motionless.

He had never lassoed anything from this distance before but, for Candy's sake, his aim had to be true.

The rope tightened around the beast's neck but there was no time for celebration as the thing lurched forward, taking him with it. But he still had managed to slow the creature down somewhat.

Tom held onto the lasso tightly, holding the beast back, waiting for his men to retrieve their lassos and get in place. The creature pulled him almost with no effort, however it did move slower now. So it was working. But the pull immediately increased the pain in his chest and Tom felt how little he would be able to achieve just by himself. The pain was way too strong to hold the rope for much longer.

But his workers didn't fail him. One by one, the lassos swooshed around in the air and as the loops tightened around the creatures neck, the strain of his rope lessened. It seemed like his plan was working; the creature slowed down significantly and then, it stopped. It seemed that it worked like he had hoped; alone,not one of them stood a chance… but together, united…

Candy opened her eyes when she realised that she was still alive. Time seemed to have slowed down.

The creature hissed and shrieked just above her, its jaws snapping away at her closer and closer until they were inches away from her face. And then, for some reason she couldn't fully understand, it backed away, rather violently. But a glance around was enough to understand that it didn't actually back away – it was _pulled _away. It was Tom and his men, holding the beast back with the lassos from different positions.

She reacted faster than she could think. Her hand quickly fumbled around her side, searching for anything she could consider a weapon. Her fingers brushed through the snow back and forth frantically and finally, she felt something more solid than just clumps of dirt and snow. Within an instant, she had it firmly grasped in her hand. The object was covered in snow but she knew what it was; it was the broken scythe handle, with the snapped end, sharp like a spear.

Anger and revenge boiled in her veins and that gave her the strength that she needed. With a scream of fury, she lunged and rammed the wooden handle deep into the creature's throat.

A blood curdling shriek pierced the air once more. But this time, it was joined, seconds later, by another scream.

It was obvious that this creature really felt pain this time because the shriek was so much louder, bordering with a real roar. Candy screamed as the creature's blood splashed onto her hand.

She instinctly pulled her hand back due to the pain, taking the handle with it. Despite the immense pain that she was in, she couldn't give up. It was now or never! Everything depended on what she did next.

Candy thrust the handle upwards and into the beast's montrious lower jaw. The creature's hands reached out to try and remove the handle but Candy held it firmly in place, with a strength she had never before possessed.

She didn't have much time left. She was in pain and her strength wasn't going to last for much long, she just knew it. And so with whatever little strength she had left, and ignoring her burning hands, she pushed harder and plunged the handle deep into its head. Then, she let go of the handle and started to crawl backwards, away from the creature.

Tom and his men held the creature back for as long as they could. They could feel the creature's life starting to ebb away.

The beast suddenly stopped moving.

"_was it over?"_

And just as it had suddenly stopped, with all its remaining energy, the creature lurched forward in Candy's direction once more, so violently that the ropes holding it back were simply torn away from the men's hands. The strain of being pulled back, now released, threw its body forward, the wire around its legs prevented it from regaining balance and everyone screamed in horror as they saw it topple, about to fall right on top of Candy.

And she, seeing the creature about to crush her, with all her remaining strength that she had, rolled to the side, not knowing if she would make it or not.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

The freezing cold wind blew and swept stronger, causing the powdery snow to lift into a cloud above the ground. The trees in the pine forest bent even more, swishing intensively and then back to their previous position. But nothing else moved. Everything looked like it had turned into stone.

Candy lay on the trampled snow without breathing. Her body was completely immobile – and the only thing that still showed any sign of life, was her eyes. She blinked a few times, surprised that she was still feeling anything at all. The pain across her shoulder and on her chest. The coldness of the snow underneath her hands... so soothing for the burns that she had. The freezing cold wind, sweeping over her and cooling her overheated head. Her first breath burned her lungs a bit but it was nevertheless, indescribably sweet.

It took her many seconds to realise and believe that she was still alive.

Weakly, breathing erratically, she pulled herself upwards and stood up on her trembling legs.

The men around her stood like stone statues and even in the moonlight she saw how incredibly pale they were. Only now, in this stillness, she noticed their condition. They looked just as bad as she felt; tired, beaten, with blood flowing from their wounds and soaking through their completely tattered clothing. And with utter shock and terror still etched into their facial features. But they weren't looking at her...

She looked down to her side and she understood why they were so frightened.

Instinctively, she jumped back and her movement finally broke the stillness around.

The creature lay on the ground two feet away from her and she understood that she must have had avoided it falling onto her by only mere inches. It wasn't moving. The sharp end of the scythe handle poking out from the top of its head explained everything; it must have had pierced the creature through from the impact when it fell to the ground.

One of the men slowly approached the twisted body that stretched on the trampled snow. Clearly too afraid to touch the creature with his bare hands, he warily poked the hideous head with his axe, at arms length. There was no reaction and encouraged by this, he hit again, this time, much harder. The head rolled upwards and floppily fell onto its side again. There was no movement in the creature's body, not even a single twitch of a muscle. And what had convinced them the most, were the creature's eyes. They were now completely black and matt; The unearthly, devilish red glow that had frightened them all so much had disappeared from them.

The beast was dead.

Perhaps it was the realisation that it was really finally over that released the strained tension; one of the cowboys, the one who was the most severely wounded, swayed on his feet, moaned protractedly and finally collapsed into a heap onto the ground. This snapped everybody out of their stillness. Those who were in the closest proximity, hurried to him, limping and supporting themselves on the barrels of their Winchesters or the handles of their axes.

And then, something unimaginable happened. Everybody heard it at the same time, a weird sound; a quiet but clear hiss. It was coming from the beast and everyone froze once again, unsure of what was going to happen next. Unsure that the creature was actually dead.

And what happened next, indeed surprised everyone. The creature started to slowly decompose before their very, wide open eyes,. Firstly, the entire body seemed to have shrunk a bit. The earlier, heavily bulging muscles lost their strain and disappeared almost completely, leaving the thick, black skin, smooth, without any protrusions. And then, very rapidly, the whole body began to implode and melt. It was like looking at a candle that was placed too close to a source heat. The snow underneath and surrounding the creature began to hiss as it got hot and evaporated. And as the monstrosity finally melted down to a slimy, dark green gloop, a foul stench filled the air and everyone's nostrils as well. It was hard to describe the smell but it smelt something akin to rotten garbage on a hot summer's day, with a shot of sewer. Everyone was in pain and tired. Now they felt nauseous too.

But right now, they had no time to waste on staring at this disgusting thing. Two other men also fell from their blood loss. It was becoming evident that they had to now focus on themselves if they didn't want to have anymore dead bodies tonight. Some of the men were severely wounded but everyone had survived.

The events that followed would later merge into a haze in Candy's memory. Helping one another, they had gone inside the orphanage where Tom had immediately called for a doctor from Lakewood Town.

Candy had had her hands full of work to do. The fight with the beast was over but for her, these busy minutes were the second act of the battle, her personal one; a fight to sustain life they had managed to save. And it wasn't an easy fight. Three of those men lost so much blood that Candy seriously feared for their life. The supplies from the orphanage's first aid kit had run out in a blink of an eye, the dirtied wounds had to be cleaned with cold water and disinfected with whisky which one of the cowboys carried in his pocket flask, she had no tools for proper stitching and the temporary bandaging was made out of strips from the children's bed sheets and flat pebbles brought from outside. After pressing pebbles to so many wounds and deep cuts, to stem the flow of bleeding, and wrapping them tightly, she barely felt her hands.

Meanwhile, the doctor had arrived with his assistant, sooner than everyone had expected. After showing Tom his credentials, his assistant, Martha, immediately set about helping the wounded.

Candy hadn't stopped, even when they had arrived, unmindful of her own wounds. She had ignored her growing dizziness, the sudden weakness in her hands and then, her entire body, the black and white spots that began dancing before her eyes. Up until the very last moment, she just didn't realise what was happening...

She took a few steps forward, fell to her knees and toppled over onto the floor.

And then, there was just a soft, inviting darkness.


	6. Chapter 6

The first thing that greeted her eyes when she opened them was the bright early morning sunlight pouring through the window. She squinted and blinked a couple of times before her eyes got used to the brightness. She was in a bed, a bunk bed, laying comfortably under warm covers, restored and refreshed just like after a good sleep. Yet, she couldn't get rid of this nagging sensation of sadness, deep fear and dread from her mind... The dream, or rather, the nightmare, that she had felt so real, as if she really went through something that intense...

A moment later, she remembered her dream. She shook her head minutely, trying to shake off the memory of this particularly nasty nightmare. She couldn't understand how her mind could even create such images in the first place.

But hold on just a minute though… She looked around, frowning. If it all was indeed just a dream, wouldn't she have woken up in Chicago, in her own bed? Or, at least in her bedroom at the Lakewood villa? Why was she at Pony's Home and why would she be sleeping in one of the children's beds?

She pushed the covers off and sat up energetically and instantly she felt pain as if her entire skin was burning across her chest. It was pain so sharp that it stopped her breathing for a moment. Her hands instinctively embraced her body to cover the burning spot... Under the thin fabric of her nightgown, her fingers felt layers of linen, quite tightly wrapped around her entire ribcage... And as she moved, her hands hurt too. As she looked down, she saw the skin on her forearms…

Bandages.

Plasters.

Bruises. Big, visible bruises, already turning a dark shade of blue...

Burns...

_No!_

The realisation of it painfully clenched her heart with an iron fist. At that moment, at that point in time, she would given anything to have all those images inside her head to have _only_ been a nightmare and nothing more…!

Slowly, very slowly, she turned and sat on the edge of the bed. With even more care, she got up and grimacing with pain, slowly walked to the bedroom's open door. She wasn't here alone; somewhere within the house, male voices could be heard, tangled in a calm discussion.

"Hello?" she called out, but her voice sounded so weak that a person standing even a few feet away would have had trouble hearing her. She took a deeper breath and tried again, "Anyone?"

The chatter suddenly ceased and a moment later, a massive male silhouette appeared by the kitchen door on the opposite side of the house. He had most of his head wrapped up in white bandages but she immediately recognized in him as one of Tom's cowboys. "She's up!" he said to those who were with him in the kitchen and almost immediately, he moved aside, clearly making way for someone. And indeed, another silhouette appeared, ran pass him and rushed down the corridor towards her. She didn't even have time to take another step before Sister Maria was at her side.

"Candy!" she said softly, gently placing an arm around her shoulders. "How are you feeling?"

"Did I fall asleep?"

"You fainted." the nun informed her. "Last night, while you were helping the doctor. He told me he didn't even realise that you were also wounded too until you collapsed."

More footsteps were heard in the narrow corridor and Candy turned her head in this direction. It was Tom with his men, including the one who saw her from the door. Every single one of them had at least one bandage on a part of his body, everyone was more or less limping.

"How are you doing, Candy?" Tom asked.

"Been better..." she replied. And as they approached, she noticed that their group was a lot smaller than last night. Some of his workers were missing. "And you guys? Where are the others? Are they...?"

"Still in one piece, thanks." Tom gave her a small smile. "Those with the most serious wounds had to be taken to the hospital in town for a blood transfusion but they will be alright too."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, they still had the energy to protest quite vividly against being taken to those 'butchers in disguise' as they call the clinic." Tom's smile became more genuine, "And even more energy to demand for you to be their personal nurse, so yeah, I guess they will make it."

"Thank God!" Candy sighed with relief. "And what about..." she hesitated, "that _creature_?"

"It's gone now. For good." Sister Maria reassured her softly. "We burned whatever was left and buried it."

Candy stared at her former teacher, in shock. Sister Maria spoke with such certainty and there was no hint of the distrust that had lingered in her voice the previous evening! She saw it with her own eyes and now, she believed it.

"But you didn't let the kids see it or touch it, right?" she demanded heatedly, reaching out and grabbing Sister Maria's hand. Her wounds immediately reminded her of their presence but she ignored the pain as best she could. "Its blood burned our skin like acid!"

"No, don't worry, the children are not even here." Sister Maria gently squeezed her hand. "I came here by myself when Tom phoned up, I wouldn't risk taking them back here already. They are still at Tom's ranch, with Miss Pony."

Candy exhaled. "Oh, okay…" she sighed. "It's much safer for them this way…"

But speaking about the children had made her focus on the main problem, the sole reason that she had came to Pony's Home in a first place. "And what about…" she hesitated even longer than before, "What about Lorena and the other two? Any news?"

Sister Maria's face became completely serious and sad. "No." she replied. "But the sheriff had already alerted the police yesterday in all the neighbouring villages and now there are many officers searching. And you should see how many local farmers have also joined in the search! With so many people searching they just have to find them!"

Candy could only nod. Right now she wanted to have Sister Maria's faith that the kids were really out there. If they were, there was indeed a chance that they would finally be found, no matter what condition they were in. Even if… Candy hesitated about considering such a thought, even if only in her mind but only for a moment; last night had toughened her up a bit, taught her how to face even the worst truth without denying it. _Even if they're dead, _she finished, _it's still better to find their bodies and know for sure rather than have them missing and live forever without knowing what really happened to them…_

At least in one case, they still had hope. On the other case…

No… On the other case then, there was no hope.

She swayed on her feet and immediately felt Sister Maria's hands holding her up for support.

"Candy, you should go back to bed." The nun had decided. "Tom, help me..."

They put her back to bed and she didn't protest. She did feel weak – but it wasn't because of a strictly physical pain... It was something else.

She murmured something about feeling sleepy again and they believed her. Two minutes later, she was left in the room alone. She needed that. She needed a moment to deal with the storm that had now rising up within her. So far, she had been feeling empty, dead, void of any feelings but now, her emotional dam had begun to crack and soon, it would no longer hold back the flood.

And so she lay there, in a wooden bunk bed, bathed in the morning light, with her heart clenched painfully in sorrow.

Then the flood came.

Albert would never speak to her again! He won't smile to her with that wonderful smile of his, narrowing his eyes! Never again will she be able to hide her hand in his hands, never again she will be able to share with him her most private, inner thoughts… Never again will he tease her gently to brighten her mood, never again will she be the one whom he sneaked out to after work, just to relax away from the stiff atmosphere of the Andrews' mansion… never again will she have the opportunity to tell him what she had wanted to tell him for some time now…

'Never' equalled 'infinity'.

The sudden heartache had ceased her breathing for a moment and then, she burst out in a desperate cry. But she wasn't given the liberty to cry freely; as short, dry sobs shook her chest, her stitched up wounds strained and burned her so sharply that it ceased her breathing again. She held her pain stricken chest and tried to breathe slower.

_I never had the courage to tell you how much I love you…! _She almost howled out in her thoughts. _And now it's too late…_

She cried like that for a very long time, not able to calm down. She cried but no tears flowed. She sobbed. She cried a tearless cry as no amount of tears could express the magnitude of her loss…

She cried until she was completely drained and then fell asleep again.

When she woke up again, it was much darker but it wasn't the evening as she initially thought; the clock on the bedroom wall showed barely noon. The explanation was quite simple; the weather had changed; the sun was hidden behind thick, dark clouds and it was now snowing heavily.

The house wasn't completely quiet like before. She heard some loud, banging noises and a clear sound of heavy footsteps coming from the attic. Somebody was definitely up there. And even though she knew that it couldn't be the same as last night, her instincts took over and ignoring the pain, she got up and hurried to the hall. There, she bumped into Sister Maria, who had just came back in from the outside.

"What's going on?" she asked. "What's with all those noises?"

"Oh, that?" Sister Maria looked up at the ceiling. "It's just Tom and the others, they are trying to fix the roof. Mr. Cartwright sent Jimmy with some thick canvas to at least temporarily cover the hole from the snow."

Candy nodded, relieved.

"And you, Candy, since you're up, you should eat something." Sister Maria suggested. "We ate when you were sleeping."

"I'm not hungry." Candy protested weakly.

"Candy, no discussions, please. You need energy if you want to recover."

Candy wasn't sure if she cared anymore about recovering at all but she let her teacher walk her to the kitchen. There, she was sat at the working table and told to wait. Sister Maria disappeared for a moment and when she came back, she held in her hands, long, warm socks, slippers and one of her grey cardigans. "You can't keep walking around in just a nightgown." She said and with gentle hands, helped her put all of it on. Then, she walked towards the cooker and took the ladle of its hook.

But the late breakfast wasn't meant to be. The moment Sister Maria turned towards the cooker, a weird noise came from outside. It was a 'wooing' sound, almost like a siren, pulsating its rhythm.

It was Candy who looked outside the window, alerted.

The sound repeated four more times, getting louder and louder, as if its source was approaching quickly and then it stopped with a single, loud thud.

It was a mixture of sounds Candy had never heard before…

…and she had a very bad experience with sounds that she had never heard before.

Before she could even think consciously, she jumped off the chair, grabbed a large knife from the counter and ignoring the pain, hurried outside through the kitchen door.

Outside, she saw Tom and two of his men, who approached her with hammers and nails in their hands, clearly alerted as they worked. Their faces too, also expressed anxiety. And she could literally hear them swallow. After what they had all been through last night, their imaginations were running amok and it wasn't hard to imagine the worst case scenarios. And if this was another one of those creatures, if this was another attack, they didn't stand much of a chance of getting through this one alive. Not one of them were in any form of good shape and besides, their only weapons this time around was a knife, a hammer and few nails. And a ladle, being held by Sister Maria.

They cautiously approached the barn and stopped a few feet away from the door.

Tom looked at Candy and she looked back at him. "I can't hear anything move inside." He whispered.

"Maybe it's an egg, just like the last one?" she whispered back. "If it is, we will have some time to deal with it _before_ it hatches…"

The pulsating 'wooing' noise had returned, drowning out her last words. And despite the heavy snow, they could see a sharp, blue light that began flashing from inside the barn. Unprepared or not, they had to see what it was. They all hurried towards the barn's door and had a discreet peek from behind the frame.

What they saw, they did not know. All they saw was a tall, big, blue box with a flashing white light on top, disappearing right before their very eyes. What was left behind was four silhouettes. One tall and three smaller ones, eerily blurred by the flashing light but got more clearer as the big, blue object faded away into nothingness, along with that distinctive, siren-like sound.

_Here we go again._ Candy thought, gripping her knife harder. _But those four were something new…_

"Candy?" A voice cried out.

At that very moment, she stopped thinking at all. Her brain just stopped, her heart stopped, time stopped, the entire world stopped. And it was all because of her name, spoken by the voice she had believed that she would not hear again…

Like a lunatic, she took a step towards the voice. "It… It can't be…" she stammered.

The flashing light had disappeared completely and the four silhouettes now became fully visible. That's when the world moved again.

She didn't even notice that her grip had loosened and the knife that she had held on so tightly before, fell onto the ground. Forgetting everything else, with a cry of enormous relief, she dashed across the barn, completely fogetting about her pain from her wounds, and threw herself into awaiting arms. Her wound protested vividly but she felt the pain only as some very distant and very insignificant annoyance. The whole range of emotions overwhelmed her and the only thing that she registered was the man who held her like he wasn't going to let go of her ever again.

"I thought I'd never see you again!"

"I thought I'd lost you!"

They spoke fervently in the same second and upon hearing each other's voices, laughed shortly, with a laughter that bordered with tears.

Somewhere from behind her shoulder, Candy heard more similar shouts; it was Sister Maria, hugging the kids with a cry of joy and relief.

"Sister Maria, Sister Maria!" they kept calling. "We were fighting lizzards! Huge ones!"

"And we slept in a cave, a real one!"

But she let those comments just pass by her ears for now. Right now, her main focus was on Him.

Just like she couldn't earlier accept that he was gone forever from her life, just like now, she couldn't believe that he was standing here and she could hold him so tight, so close… And weird thing was; earlier on, she had cried but with no tears. And now… now she felt the horrible dead emptiness in her heart receding; a relief washed over her like a massive cascade of water that had been released. Her eyes must have resembled a mirror to her inner waterfall because her cheeks were completely wet from her gushing tears. But these were tears of pure jubilation.

He was back, he was back, he was back!

It was a joy and alleviation almost too big to contain.

She thought they would never let go of each other but eventually, they did. Gently, Albert loosened his grasp and moved away a bit. She blinked a few times to clear her view – and melted at the wonderfully warm smile that he gave her. He also had suspiciously moist eyes.

But as he stepped away, she could now have a proper look at him. Moments earlier, she was far too excited from seeing him but now, she noticed. His hair was dirty and completely dishevelled, he had a few days growth of beard, a long, nasty cut on his cheek and another one in the opening of his shirt. And the shirt itself hardly deserved its name – it was in shreds, barely held together by the thread. Only now she remembered the childrens' comments and it occurred to her that they too, could have gone through a tough time.

"What on earth happened to you?" she asked fervently. "What was that blue box… and the light?... that sound?"

"It's a long story." Albert replied. "And here? What's with all those bandages on you, Tom and others? What happened here? Was it that monster from the egg?"

"You saw it then." she more stated than asked.

Albert confirmed by nodding his head.

"Yes, it got out and went on a rampage." She explained. "But we're fine. Some of us got really hurt but it's gone now and we're all still alive."

"Candy…" Sister Maria spoke from behind her, gaining their attention. "There's a lot to explain, I know. But later, okay? We need to take them inside!"

That was of course, the most reasonable thing to do.

On the way out of the barn, Candy hugged all the kids who were more than eager to greet her. All had their clothes more or less torn but they seemed in pretty good shape. Their mouths just wouldn't close, so impatient they were to tell their own little adventure!

Back inside the orphanage everything focused in a natural way on them and Albert. They had to be taken care of, washed, disinfected, dressed, fed and then sat near the fireplace in the reception room to rest and get warmed up. Only then, they could all, including all the men, who in the meantime had finished with the roof, sit down and share their tales. The children were eager to tell their stories first but Albert asked them to wait just a little bit more. Since he already knew about the creature, he only wanted to know more about what happened after his disappearance. They concisely described told him about their epic battle with the beast.

And then, it was his and the kids' turn to tell their side of their story. From their words, the incredible story began to unfold but surprisingly, it provided everyone with the missing pieces of this incomplete puzzle. It was still crazy and unbelievable but yet somehow made sense.

"I had no idea what happened or how." Albert explained, shrugging. "One second, I'm in the attic, screaming, scared to death by this monster hissing at me from the egg… and the next, I was surrounded by a purple light. It blinded me and when I could finally see anything, I thought that there was something wrong with my eyes! The attic had disappeared, I was in completely strange surroundings. Not only that – also the time was different! The darkness of the night had disappeared, it was evening. And it was so warm, like in the summer! All around me was a rocky and sandy landscape – but not far away from me, there was a tropical jungle. The trees! They were huge, massive! Have you ever seen Californian sequoias? Imagine them but even bigger and you will have a picture their sizes._ Everything_ there seemed massive - also the animals, judging by the sounds I could hear coming from within the jungle. Honestly, their roars had me shaking like a jelly! I had no clue as to what happened or where I was, I was still shaken after seeing that monster in the attic and the sounds from the jungle weren't making things any better. And on top of that, the evening began quickly turning into night and it looked like I was going to spend a night under the stars, exposed to whatever was lurking out there, imagining that they could be like the one from the attic but bigger and much, much worse…"

"I know what you mean." Candy nodded. "After I first saw it, I kept seeing it in my head all the time as we rode thought the forest. I was expecting it to jump out from behind almost every tree that we passed! But go on."

"I knew I had to hide for the night so I started looking around for something that would provide me with some shelter." Albert continued. "There was one, I came across a small cave mouth but inside was big like a house. As I got in, I could see that there were high ledges inside where I could hide and rest. I was shocked when I started to climb up and somebody called out my name! It was those three. They spotted me from their cave."

Here, he let the impatient kids finally join in in the telling of their tale and to share their part of the adventure. Everything happened in a similar way – they too, had been in the attic when it happened, all three had stood close to each other, in exactly the same spot that Albert had stood just before he disappeared – and they also remembered a purple light around them. When asked about that, Lorena confirmed that the colour to be the same as she had seen from her bed. Just like Albert later on, straight from the blinding light, they found themselves in a world they didn't recognize. They too, had also jumped from night time into early evening, ventured around and found a cave where they had spent the night up on the ledges, frightened to tears by the impermeable darkness outside and the scary animalistic voices that broke the silence of the night. The only good thing was that the air was warm so they didn't feel any discomfort or cold.

The morning sunshine had brought back some courage to them and they went outside. Luckily for them, there was a stream nearby, so they could at least quench their thirst but later on, they had clearly felt that the last time that they had eaten more than twelve hours ago. And because there was nothing nearby, the only choice was for them to go into the jungle. They had walked along the river, to be sure that they won't get lost.

The fish they saw in there! No one in the world had ever seen anything like it, that was sure! Some had frog-like legs instead of fins, some had a proper moustache that was sticking out above the water's surface and sniffing around. And the weirdest one had bright yellow eyes on both ends of its body and swam in both directions. But none of those fishes could become their dinner; they didn't have any string or a hook with them or anything to start a fire to cook it with. They had to find something else, something they could eat straight away, without cooking. And they did. They had just entered the jungle when they had spotted a flock of weird looking birds, feasting on some of the bushes and trees near the river. The bushes had brown, furry berries and from the trees, hung fruits that looked very much like giant bananas. And they tasted like bananas so they picked up as much as they could carry and went back to the cave. They had gone one more time, for more fruits but on their way back, they had heard the loud scary roars again. They didn't dare go back to the jungle after that. They felt safer near their cave.

And it was a good thing that they had stayed, Albert concluded, joining their explanation. If they had left and looked for another place, they would have probably missed each other.

Together, although still at a loss as to where they were, they had felt more secure. Some smaller rocks dragged and piled up at the cave's entrance also increased their safety. Wherever they were, whatever had happened to them and God knew where _home_ was – they had had to focus on surviving in this strange world. That was important – survive.

In the morning, they had gone back into the jungle again to gather more food. Later on, Albert chose a young tree, cut it down and made a spear out of it. "That wouldn't have been possible if not for you, Candy." He said, surprising everyone. "You made me go and find some kind of tool or weapon, remember? If it wasn't for you, I would've just gone back to the attic with bare hands. And this way, except for the torch, we also had an axe, which I used to make spears for all of us, for cutting some lianas, wood and a few other things. I don't think we would have survived so many days without it."

"Days?" Candy asked, thinking that she must have misunderstood. "You were gone for less than a day…"

Everyone in the room looked at one another in bewilderment.

Albert and the kids looked at her with disbelief. "Candy…" he said slowly, seriously, "I spent three nights there. And that makes four for the kids."

As much as they trusted Albert as a very reliable person, now, doubt showed on their faces. How could he say that they were gone for twice as long than he really had been! That was impossible! Was there something wrong with his mind?

"We spent that time gathering food and doing everything to avoid meeting with the local animals. They looked liked… dinosaurs" Albert continued in a calm voice.

_What? Dinosaurs?_ More murmurs erupted from the group. Apart from Albert and the three kids, everyone wore the same puzzled look on their face. "Didn't the dinosaurs die like millions of years ago?" Tom asked with voice full of doubt.

Albert didn't reply to that. "We saw them from a distance and trust me, they were all strange and scary, no matter what size they were." he said instead, as everyone started to quieten down. "Also, we went for walkabouts, to see if there was anyone there who could tell us where we actually were. It was on the fourth day. We went up the stream and climbed a very high hill – but even though we had a clear view of the horizon, it didn't help at all. All around the hill, there was a wide ring of rocky formations and beyond that ring, for miles and miles there was nothing but endless, thick jungle. No sign of people, no houses, not even smoke that would indicate that there was someone, somewhere out there. We were devastated! We had no idea where we were and no idea how to get back home!"

"But you _are _back." Candy reminded him. "How?"

"I'm getting there." Albert reassured her. "We were going back to our cave and that's when our luck nearly ended. We were attacked by a couple of those animals we had been hiding from…"

"Albert was great!" Lorena cut in excitedly, interrupting him. "This animal jumped on us and scratched us and he simply kicked it in the butt and shooed it away!"

Sister Maria was so shocked that she forgot to scold the girl for using such foul language.

"Yeah!" Jack joined in with the praising. "And then he did Bang! Bang! Bang! on its head with his axe and it ran away!"

"And then another lizard came and we ran into our cave, Sister Maria, so, so fast I lost my shoes!" Diana shouted also wanting some attention. "And Lorena tripped over but we helped her and then I hurt my feet on the gravel, and then Jack pushed us in, and Albert ran right behind us and…"

Here, she ran out of breath and Albert had to finish her sentence, "…and this animal squeezed in right behind me as I climbed towards the ledges. We were safe but the situation was still bad; I didn't have my axe anymore; it got stuck for good in this other lizard's head. And the one in the cave opened its jaws and its teeth were three feet below us and the only thing we had there for our defence were pebbles and rocks!"

"But we did it!" Jack interrupted again, clearly still too eager to share more details. "We were throwing rocks at it and one of them fell right into its throat! And it started choking a bit but it kept trying to bite us, and then Albert grabbed his torch and bam! threw it into its throat too... And it started really coughing but the torch was big and too deep and it couldn't spit it and it backed away, and we looked outside and it was still coughing, more and more, and it tried to run towards the great jungle but it had no more strength and..."

"...and we heard someone calling us." Albert finished, while Jack tried to catch a breath after speaking so much and so fast on just one intake of breath. "By the stream we saw a tall blue wooden box and a man waving at us from an open door, beckoning us in. You can imagine how happy we were to see another human being there so we simply rushed in, the door closed behind us and..."

He paused and glanced around at everyone in the room. It was obvious that they were all dumbfounded by both the story as well as the speed that the kids were speaking in.

"…and he carried us back home." He finished shortly.

Candy shook her head. "Hold on, hold on, not so fast." She said. She knew Albert better than anyone and knew that when he was gave such a simple, seemingly satisfying answer, there was usually something he was trying to hide. Besides, the whole story was too incredible to have such a simple ending. "Who was that man? And what was that blue box? I saw it!

Albert sat there in silence for a moment and what was particularly weird, was that the kids were silent too. The children sat in silence, staring intensively at his face, as if they suddenly realised the tension in the room and understood that out of the four of them, he should be the one who should answer this question. "He didn't give us his name." Albert replied finally. "He just called himself 'The Doctor'. And the blue box was his… transport."

Candy was now absolutely sure that there was something he didn't want to say openly. And suddenly, it occurred to her that it could have been something so weird or so far fetched that he was afraid that no one would believe him. The events over the last two days were the weirdest thing that had ever happened to her in her life and it all felt more like a crazy dream – but she knew it _did_ happen. And she understood exactly how he could feel – she had felt the same when she had been trying to convince Sister Maria and Miss Pony about the monster and they wouldn't believe her. She couldn't do the same to him.

"Albert…" she said tenderly and he looked at her, surprised by this softness in her voice, "You are not telling us everything, are you? We saw this box disappear before our very eyes! And nothing in this world can just disappear! What was it? Tell us, please! We all saw enough crazy stuff last night to believe in what you have to say. Right, guys?" she asked, glancing at Tom and his workers and giving them a warning look. But none of them turned away; everyone just nodded seriously.

"This man…" Albert went on slowly, "He looked like us but he wasn't like us. There wasn't much time but he explained to us that he found our trace in a place where we didn't belong and went to retrieve us. He later told us where we were. Or actually, it's about _'when' _we were. You see… the box you saw was…his time capsule. We were in the past." He finished quickly.

Everyone gasped quietly. It was becoming too complicated for people who had lived such a simple, down-to-Earth, country bumpkin life in the middle of Michigan's nowhere. They didn't dismiss Albert's words as totally absurd only because they, themselves had seen unbelievable things last night. But understanding what he had just said was beyond them. It was a different thing to fight with a creature that looked like a monster. At least it was real, tangible, they could touch it. This, however…

But Candy wasn't giving up, "So, did he tell you what happened?"

"Yes, he did." Albert nodded. And then, he took a deep breath, as if he was making some decision and began speaking smoothly, without hesitation, "He told me that there are species out there that want to invade our planet. This is exactly what happened to us. The Doctor told me that he had overheard their plans. This time - because they had tried many times before but they were defeated by people - they had decided to plant their kind somewhere where there were no one around to take any action against them when they started taking over the planet. So, they had chosen the times when mankind wasn't around yet, namely, in the era of dinosaurs. The Doctor said that the creatures had found an ancient technology that allows them to manipulate time. It's not like his 'time machine'; they can't travel freely – they can only send a single object at one time and this takes a lot of energy. And apparently, they had gotten… how did he call it… oh yes, got it! Time coordinates! They had somehow gotten the time coordinates wrong, and the egg, instead of landing amongst the unsuspecting dinos, landed 'now', here, in our year. The silvery purple light that the kids saw from their room was the beam that sent the egg down here. They, of course, quickly realised their mistake and reversed the process but without checking what they were taking. And in the meantime, our dear curious and adventurous trio..."

Here Albert looked with fondness at the three awed kids and continued with smile, "…was already in the attic, messing around with the egg. You need to know that originally it wasn't in the corner where we had found it. The kids found it more in the middle of their 'room' and because it was taking too much of their precious space, they pushed it aside. And as they stood in the spot where the egg had stood before, they were surrounded by this purple light. It was the beam that was supposed transport the egg back in time. The Doctor told me that those aliens sent it straight to the dinosaurs' era, without checking and only later, they realised their mistake. Their equipment isn't really advanced, at least not in comparison to what he has. So they sent the beam once again, this time when I happened to be there, and again, I was redirected to the past. And this was when The Doctor interfered and forced them into retreating. Right after, he traced the beam back here to the orphanage. He somehow found out that we had been transported away so he travelled back in time to find us. And he did, just with a two day delay for some unknown reason even he couldn't understand. The rest, you already know." He finished.

Murmers could be heard throughout the group that only carried one topic, _"The Doctor was here? When? How?"_

Tom recalled that the doctor who had arrived earlier with his assistant, to tend to their wounded, were new people. People that he had never met before. In a small village or town, everybody knew just about everybody else. This doctor that had turned up did say that he was new to the hospital, and his credentials were all in order. But Tom had to ask.

"What did this 'Doctor' look like?"

"He wore a blue pinstriped suit underneath a long brown coat" replied Albert.

Everybody's eyes opened wider.

"So it_ was _him._"_

Candy added her own question, a simple "And his assistant?"

"Martha?" And before Albert could finish his sentence, gasps and more murmers could be heard clearly throughout the whole room.

It took a few more minutes for everyone to quieten down after swapping quick stories with each other about this mysterious Doctor.

Candy still had a question that had plagued her since he had mentioned that 'The Doctor' had brought them all home.

"How did you all manage to fit inside that box?" she asked. "It wasn't much bigger than that wardrobe from the attic..."

And he answered a very simple answer "It was bigger on the inside."

At that point, some of Tom's workers looked at each other thinking the same thing. Clearly, Albert had been at the medicinal whisky, they thought.

He was still shocked himself from being in this 'time machine' that looked like a blue box the size of a wardrobe but yet… it _was_ bigger on the inside… The space inside the blue box was immeasurable. He described from his memory the many details of the interior The Doctor called his 'control room', he could still hear that distinct siren like noise, the central column that moved up and down when they 'travelled'.

Out of all people gathered in a cosy reception room, only the tree kids didn't look at him as if he had totally lost his mind. They sat around Albert, with awe and excitement written all over their faces, nodding at his every word. Others, including Candy, sat on their seats completely still, completely dumbfounded and completely lost for words. And Albert didn't blame them. He still found it hard to believe in it all himself, even if his senses still carried a clear memory or the fragrance of the air, the taste of the water, the fruits and fish, the feel of the lizard's skin under his fingers…

But they had no proof, just words. That's why he understood their looks full of doubts.

"I believe you, Albert." Spoke Sister Maria suddenly, breaking the silence in the room. "I don't know why but I do. But Dear Lord, I'm going to have a migraine!"

No one tried to stop her as she got up and left the room.

"I think it's best if this all stays between us." Tom suggested. "I saw that 'Doctor', I saw that blue box with my own eyes, I can't deny that. I have to believe you. But anyone who didn't see it… they will say that we're all crazy and lock us up."

The other men also woke up to life and began nodding in agreement. "I believe you too." One of them added. "The whole story sounds almost insane and farfetched but damn, it somehow makes sense! And I know what I saw last night. And what I fought with! I know it was real. Look at my wounds! It happened!"

Albert breathed a sigh of relief.

"But Tom is right; no one will ever believe us." Another man summed up.

"Then let's tell them it was a bear." Candy proposed. "I think our wounds kind of look as if they were caused by a bear's claws, people should believe that. And only we will know the truth."

And it happened just like she had suggested. A little later, they informed the sheriff's bureau about the childrens' return and thanked everyone who participated in the search for them. People were relieved that the kids had came back safe and sound and didn't ask any questions. After all, bears weren't anything unusual around these parts.

They did however have some problems with convincing the young ones to keep it all a secret. The best adventure of their life and they were supposed to keep it to themselves? Without sharing with the other children from the orphanage or their colleagues from town? It took some effort to make them understand what the consequences would be otherwise.

"But boy oh boy…" Jack shouted after they had already promised Sister Maria to never speak of it again. "Even with just the monster alone, it was the most fandabidozi Halloween ever!"


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

It was late afternoon when Candy and Albert left the orphanage, promising to visit soon again and to give back all the clothing that they had borrowed. Albert also promised to take care for the materials needed for fixing the destroyed roof.

This time Albert drove slower, making sure that the car wouldn't shake too much. Every sudden movement of the vehicle was causing Candy to grimace in pain and he wanted to avoid that as much as he could. But she kept reassuring him that the pain wasn't unbearable.

Both felt the need to talk more seriously but it didn't seem like the atmosphere was right for it in the car. That's why they stopped off by the lake, a little bit before entering the Andrews' estate.

The night was cold but bright, with no clouds and at first, they were just happy to admire the full moon reflected off the lake's calm surface. For a moment, they just stood by the lake's shore, relished in the view, grateful for being able to see it again. The events of the previous days seemed so far away all of a sudden! A short while later, Albert turned to Candy and without saying a single word, stared at her until she finally noticed.

"You know…" he said quietly, somehow shyly, "When I stood on top of that hill, when I understood that we were really lost and without hope for rescue… I thought of you."

"Really?" Candy asked.

Albert nodded. "Yes. I stood there, trying to be brave for the kids, but inside… Inside I was utterly scared. Scared because I had no clue where we were or what to do, scared that I had no idea if anyone will ever help us… and that I will never see you again. It hurt me more than I could say…"

He went silent and Candy stared at him, not knowing what to think. It sounded like…. But could she believe it?

"Why me?" she whispered. "You have so many people around you that are more important to you than me… your family… friends…"

"No." Albert replied simply and shook his head. "I thought of you."

Candy felt her heart beating a lot faster. His words might have seemed innocent – but she also saw his face. And what she saw in there, what she read in his eyes, took her breath away for a moment. It was an incredible, heart melting tenderness. She couldn't be wrong. His entire face spoke of it.

She stopped hesitating. "And I didn't." She said in a quiet, trembling voice. "When I heard your scream, when I saw this creature in the attic, with all that blood on its teeth, right after you went upstairs… I couldn't think of you. It hurt so much to even think that you were…"

"Candy…" Albert spoke her name softly.

"I wanted to die." She confessed. "Without you, everything stopped making any sense."

Albert didn't say anything this time but he stepped closer and she felt his hand touching her cheek. His gaze never left her, as if he was silently searching for an answer. She wasn't entirely sure what exactly he was trying to tell her, but she prayed that it was what she had been secretly hoping for. And to let him know, without words, how she felt, she lifted her hand and mirrored his gesture. Under her fingers, she felt the still unshaved skin and the rough cut. She brushed over it as gently as she could. He smiled lightly, as if with disbelief. She smiled back and he understood.

His lips were so tender, so sweet! So softly they rested on hers! So amazing it felt that she stopped breathing and closed her eyes. And how naturally her lips merged with his! She had been kissed only once before and she could hardly say that that rapid, forced kiss had taught her anything. But somehow, here, with _Him_, she didn't have to ask how to do this. Her lips simply lived their own life, had their own will and all she had to do was to enjoy the feeling.

Albert pulled her closer and deepened the kiss and she felt her head beginning to spin. Somewhere deep inside, she felt the need of holding stronger and tighter onto him. She reached out her hands to embrace him…

The next second, a burning pain pierced her chest, brutally reminding her of the wound. She stiffened her body but she couldn't hold back the painfull moan.

Albert backed away. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing…" she shook her head. "Just the wound…"

"I'm so sorry… I should have…"

"No, it's not you… it's not fair!" she complained suddenly, a bit childishly. "Stupid wound… That is so not how I had imagined our first kiss would look like..! It was supposed to be romantic, not like this…!"

Albert raised his eyebrows at her outburst and then, after a moment, his facial expression changed from puzzled to a little disbelieving.

"You... you've been… dreaming of me, kissing you?"

And it was then that it dawned on her what she had actually said and a hot flush of red flooded her cheeks. She lowered her head and prayed to all the heavens for the darkness of the night to hide it.

But Albert didn't let her avoid the answer. His hand cupped her chin and in a gentle but quite firm gesture he lifted it up, forcing her to look into his eyes again. "Did you, Candy?" he repeated.

She couldn't avoid this suddenly intense gaze. And she realized that she didn't want to. His eyes… always so warm and loving… they were now waking in her, totally different feelings. Feelings that she had never before felt, so much a… woman. Now she did. And she liked this feeling very much.

"I did." She admitted. "You may laugh at me but I did. Many times. So many that I can call myself pathetic…"

She trailed off, blushing again but Albert didn't let go of her chin. And his other hand, which she realized was still wrapped around her waist, pulled her closer again. "Do you see me complaining?" he asked warmly.

No, he didn't and encouraged by this, she smiled again.

"I've always known that deep down, you were hiding your romantic self." Albert continued with a teasing tone. "I just never dared believe that you would ever have any romantic thoughts about me... You have no idea how this makes me happy... Why would you think that I would laugh?"

"Because I felt that you would always be treating me like a little girl." She confessed timidly. "You are older, so much more mature than me... I thought you would never take me seriously..."

Albert looked her so deeply into her eyes that her heart began racing faster again. And then he smiled with the smile that she loved so much. "Trust me, you are _not _a little girl to me. You never were." He said in a quiet, intimate tone that made her stomach flutter. "You have no idea how much I would love to prove it to you right here, right now. Only the thought of your condition stops me. But you just wait until you get better..."

Candy gulped more than swallowed, feeling the butterflies in her stomach dancing crazily. "And what will happen when I get better?" she challenged him bravely. She had no idea that she was capable of such boldness.

"I will kiss you again." He replied directly. "But before that, I will make you tell me in great detail how your dream kiss should be. I will do it exactly like you want it. _If_ you will still want it, of course."

Candy could swear that all the stars in the winter sky began singing. "Why aren't we going home yet?" she asked and chuckled quietly at the silly face he made at her inquiry. She stepped back from Albert's arms and walked away towards the car, explaining from above her shoulder, "The sooner I start getting better, the better!"

A silence and then a sudden burst of laughter told her that Albert understood her allusion. A moment later, he caught up with her and he opened the car door for her. "I will get you the best medicines." He teased.

He entered the car on the driver's side and turned the engine on. "You know, Jack was right!" he said, turning to her and once more, brushing his fingers over her cheek. "In a way, this is indeed the best Halloween ever!"


	8. Chapter 8

**EPILOG**

_**Two months later...**_

"How far did you get?"

Distracted right in the middle of a very interesting article about unusual meteorological activity, Albert lifted his eyes from above the newspaper and looked at Candy with a smile, who had just appeared by the kitchen door and walked towards him.

"Hmmm, let me see…" he murmured. "I jumped straight to page eleven, so, here, you can read the first few pages…"

He handed her the desired page and smiled wider in amusement when Candy grabbed it eagerly. They had been meeting up for the last two months, also spending time in her apartment and one of the small things he enjoyed was reading the newspaper after dinner, while Candy washed the dishes. He liked it because it had somehow become a habit that she would join him and snatch some of the pages from under his nose. He had nothing against it, especially that she would sooner or later snuggle closer to him and they would end up reading it together… or doing something else together, something that had nothing whatsoever to do with reading… Now also, she sat on the sofa next to him and folded her legs underneath her. Soon, she would lean into him, his hand will naturally find its way onto her shoulders, then she would snuggle even closer and then…

He presumed that he wouldn't get to read any more than another half a page. All he had to do was just to wait a bit. A kiss always tasted better after a little waiting...

Sure of the outcome, with an inner smile, he got back to the article about the meteors.

But today was different. The longer he read, the more he felt how tense Candy had become. After a few moments, she sat up straight and in the corner of his eye he noticed how her palms had clenched into fists, scrunching up the newspaper.

"Albert…" she spoke slowly, with a voice so weirdly calm that it instantaneously gained his attention, "do you remember the brand of torch you had with you at Pony's Home?"

"What torch? When?"

"Back on Halloween."

Albert frowned slightly at the mention of it. The things that happened back then still haunted him – and the worst things was, with the passing of time, he started to have doubts if it all really happened. He had always been a very reasonable person and from the perspective of time, he had began to look at himself with disbelief. Did he really try to convince everybody to this mad story? Did any of this really happen? The images were still vivid in his memory but also, so unbelievable, so unlikely to be truth... like a fantasy. And that's why he began to thinking that it was really just a terrible, terrible dream, the creation of his overloaded active mind. Yet, many people apart from him _were_ involved and they had seen it too...

Those doubts were really tiring.

"Let me think…" he pondered for a moment. "I think it was 'Eveready'… Yes, definitely 'Eveready'. But why…?"

He had no clue to what was going on when he saw Candy first going pale and then, swallow slowly.

"Read it, please." She requested.

He put his newspaper on the table and took the pages from her.

'_**AMAZING ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY!' **_The title on the second page announced to the readers.

The article, written by a journalist called Ian Fitzgerald, talked about two almost fully preserved skeletons that had been discovered in Canada, quite deep beneath the Earth's crust during some mining works. Palaeontologists who examined the bones estimated their age to be at least fifty million years old.

Albert read, frowning slightly. It wasn't the first such discovery in the world; the first dinosaurs had been found centuries ago and he was sure that there will be more. The Earth was still to show the secrets from under the ground. No, it was something else that made his pulse speed up. It was when he flipped the page and read the remaining part of the article, which included a fragment of an interview conducted with one of the palaeontologists on the dig site.

_**I.F: "Dr. Pritchard, we heard rumours that along with the skeletons, you also found some metal artefacts and one of them looks like a head of an axe. Why is this news being hidden from the public? Wouldn't that be a turning point for history and science? It would be proof that mankind existed alongside with the dinosaurs and that they were capable of making such tools!"**_

_**Dr. P: "It would have been if those metal pieces were genuine. But unfortunately, they are not."**_

_**I.F: "How do you know they are not the real thing?"**_

_**Dr. P: "You see, Mr. Fitzgerald, just like with the bones, we used Radiometric dating to estimate the age of the metals and we received very confusing results. But what convinced us, was when we had cleaned what was left of the objects. Underneath a layer of rust were the parts that weren't as heavily corroded, there were readable, engraved letters. The words we managed to read was 'Eveready' and as you know, that's a company that makes torches."**_

_**I.F: "Then how did this torch made in our century end up inside the ribcage of a skeleton that had been buried for the past fifty million years? And what about the axe marks in the skull on the other skeleton?"**_

_**Dr. P. "Please, don't forget that the skeletons were found in the mine where there are a lot of miners at work. and miners commonly use torches. We believe that it might have ended up there by pure accident. But what I really think is that this was placed here deliberately as a hoax. As for the axe marks on the other skeleton, it's simple, a worker must have accidentally hit the skull when he was working and didn't know it was there. That's all I have to say about that. Now, next question, please."**_

Further on, the interview described the excavation progress. And the article ended with a photo of the proud miners and archaeologists standing beside the excavation site, along with information in which museum the skeletons would be displayed at.

Albert dropped the newspaper onto his lap. He felt stunned.

"An axe. A torch." Candy said in a tensed voice. "Jack said that the animal that attacked you swallowed your torch..."

They looked at each other with shock and utter disbelief.

"You think that it's the same one?"

"The size of the skeleton seems the same." Albert replied throatily. He couldn't utter anything else.

"Hard to judge from this photo… We will go to see it in the museum when they will show it there." She decided firmly.

And that's what they did, a few weeks later after waiting for the exhibit to open. From close up, they could clearly see each single bone of the skeletal remains. And especially one of them kept Albert's attention. He stood for many long minutes, staring intensively at the three narrow fractures and groves in the dinosaur's skull. They looked like they were made by an axe. But everyone knew that axes, especially metal ones, didn't exist so many million years ago...

Immediately after, they went to Pony's Home and showed the article and the photos they had bought in the museum to everyone who had heard that incredible story back on Halloween. The adventurous trio went ecstatic and everybody else got the proof they needed so much. The whole story still gave them all a tremendous headache when they tried to comprehend it but at least they regained at bit of peace of their, thus far, confused minds.

And Candy smiled and hid the article and the photographs in her treasure box. They would probably never talk about it again but she wanted to keep them as a reminder. A reminder of one Halloween night, so crazy, that it felt like a dream. A dream that wasn't a dream. And also, as proof that there are more things in heaven and earth, than in the dreams of philosophers.

**THE END**


End file.
